Western Diet Reduces Kidney Function

Overview

If you are consuming the standard Western/American diet, you might already know that it is associated with an increased risk of obesity. This dietary pattern has also been shown to increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Dietary Patterns

The Western diet is generally high in red meat, highly processed meats, saturated fats and sweets. The Western diet is also high in sodium. On the other hand, the DASH diet is high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Kidney function

In a study by Daniel I. Feig, et al., reported in the American Heart Association journal, Hypertension, May 2006, the researchers observed a decline in kidney function associated with the Western dietary pattern. In contrast, the authors reported that a DASH-style diet may be protective against kidney disease.

Significance

The decline in kidney function could lead to kidney failure and ultimately result in the need for dialysis or a kidney transplant. You may be able to prevent this outcome by avoiding foods that can damage your kidneys and choosing foods that are protective against kidney damage. Protective foods include those associated with the DASH diet, particularly fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

References

Hypertension

American Journal of Kidney Disease 2011; 57: 245-254. Abstract

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If you need help in planning your renal diet, talk to a registered dietitian. Search online or go to the American Dietetic Association website and click on the link to find a dietitian. 

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Salt and High Blood Pressure

Overview

If you have high blood pressure, your doctor may have told you to “watch the salt.” In essence, this means to eat less salt. For some people, it could mean eating a lot less commercially processed foods, which tend to be high in sodium.

Recommended Intake

According to the US Government, American adults should consume 2300 milligrams of sodium daily. That is equivalent to roughly one teaspoon of salt. People with high blood pressure are generally advised to keep their sodium intake even lower, to about 1500 milligrams. But it is easy to consume a lot more sodium and not even know it. That is because salt and other sodium containing products are widely used in cooking and preserving food.

Dining Out
Fast food places and other restaurants are notorious for the high levels of sodium in most of the foods they serve. That makes it very difficult to control your salt intake when dining out. Thus, your best bet is to prepare your own meals and snacks from scratch.

Shopping 

You will need to read the labels on packaged foods to be sure that you are not getting too much sodium. The ingredients list will list salt along with any other sodium-containing compound in the food. 

The Nutrition Panel is more specific. It tells how much sodium is in each serving of the food and shows the Daily Value (DV) for specific nutrients - in this case, sodium, This DV is given as a percent of the total recommended intake.

Tracking Your Intake

You can keep track of your total sodium intake by paying attention to the milligrams of sodium per serving or to the percentage shown per serving. If the package contains 4 servings, you will need to multiply the percent sodium per person by 4 to get the total percentage of the DV you will be getting if you eat the entire package. The same goes for calculating the total milligrams of sodium. A good rule of thumb is to avoid foods that contain more than 5 to 7 percent of the DV per serving.

Other Related Health Issues

There are many other things besides sodium that may cause you to develop high blood pressure, including obesity, stress, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain prescription drugs. Unfortunately, not everyone will have success by merely cutting back on the salt. If non-drug strategies do not work, you doctor is likely to put you on prescription drugs.  

Summary

If you have high blood pressure, pay attention to what you eat. Keeping your salt intake to about 1500 milligrams of sodium per day might help, particularly if you are salt-sensitive. For others, 2300 milligrams of sodium should be adequate.

Reduce Your Blood Pressure with A Low-Salt Diet

Overview
Eating too much salt, or more specifically sodium, can lead to high blood pressure and other serious health problems. For this reason, health experts recommend that adults in the US limit the amount of sodium they consume to about 2300 milligrams. But that's easier said than done, since much of the foods that Americans eat are highly processed and contain large amounts of salt.

3 Good Reasons to Limit Your Salt Intake

1. Prevent high blood pressure
2. Reduce your risk of having a stroke or other cardiovascular event
3. Avoid costly prescription drugs and the potential side effects that these drugs may have

How to Reduce Your Salt Intake
Prepare meals from scratch. When you prepare your own meals, you get to control just how much salt goes in and therefore, how much salt you consume.

Read food labels. Many commercially processed foods have large amounts of added in order to preserve the food. You can learn more about what's in the foods you buy by reading the label. Avoid foods that contain large amounts of sodium. A good cut-off point would be 7 percent of daily value for sodium per serving.

Eat out less frequently. When you eat out, you have little or no control over how much salt goes into the foods you eat. So, your best bet is to cut back on how often you eat out and be selective when you do.

Try the DASH diet. A number of studies show that the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet is a safe and effective way to reduce blood pressure, without prescription drugs. This diet focuses on reducing the intake of foods that are high in sodium and encourages consumption of a diet that is rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, fish, nuts and seeds.

Try the Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet is also a healthy alternative to the standard, high-sodium American diet.

Summary
If you have high blood pressure, you might want to consider cutting back on the amount of salt you consume daily. The DASH diet and the Mediterranean diet are smart alternatives to the high salt.high sodium diet that most Americans consume.

Note: Always consult your doctor and a registered dietitian when making major changes to your diet in the face of any chronic disease that might require prescription drugs.

Cut the Salt to Lower Your Blood Pressure

Overview

High blood pressure is a preventable disease that affects one in three adults in the US. If you are one of the millions who have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, you may be at risk for heart disease and stroke. Taking steps to lower your blood pressure will help to reduce those risks.

Lower Your Intake of Foods that are High in Sodium

 Eating foods that are high in sodium is a major contributing cause of high blood pressure. This is particularly true for people who are said to be salt-sensitive. If you are salt sensitive, your blood pressure is likely to rise when you eat foods that are high in salt. In some cases, this increase could be extremely high, putting you at risk for a heart attack or a stroke.

According to the CDC, consuming a diet that is high in fruits, vegetables, seeds and whole grains may help to prevent high blood pressure. These foods, which are high in potassium and low in sodium could therefore have a favorable impat on your blood pressure.

Unfortunately, most Americans are ignoring the advice to eat more of the foods that can help to lower blood pressure. Instead, they are eating foods that lack the protective nutrients needed to control blood pressure, and as a result, too many people are suffering needlessly from this preventable disease. You can protect yourself by heeding the advice. The DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) is a good model for what to eat to lower your blood pressure.

Why Cut Your Sodium Intake? 

High blood pressure increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. By lowering your blood pressure, you could lower these risks and prevent premature death from cardiovascular disease.

Effect of a High Salt Intake on Blood Pressure

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III found that people with higher intakes of sodium had higher blood pressure than those with lower levels of intake. The DASH trial clearly showed that reducing dietary sodium intake could result in lower blood pressure.

Food Sources of Sodium

One way to recognize those foods is to look for word cues, like salt, sodium, monosodium, salted, salt-cured, brine, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, disodium and similar words. Salt and sodium are your main cues. Here is a short list of foods that are likely to be high in sodium and therefore should be avoided.

• Canned soup 
• Salted fish 
• Corned beef 
• Canned sausages 
• Link sausage and other sausages 
• Hot dogs 
• Heat and eat frozen dinners 
• Sauces 
• Gravies 
• Cheese 
• Pizza