Author: Lu Zhang (Shenzhen Second People's Hospital)
With high blood pressure, many people will ask the doctor, "How will my diet be adjusted in the future, and is there any taboo?" ”
First, high blood pressure, salt must be limited
Strictly speaking, "taboo" was originally a saying of traditional medicine in the mainland, and there is no such concept in the field of Western medicine, however, the cultural wealth left by our ancestors is really amazing, and the prevention and treatment of hypertension is actually prescient.
As early as 2600 BC, in the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, there is a thesis that "xian, pulse Xuanye", here, "pulse Xuan" is hypertension. The classic food therapy book "Food Constitution Hong Secret" talks about dietary taboos, "the five tastes are indifferent, refreshing and less diseased." Be clean. Acid hurts the spleen, salt hurts the spleen, salty hurts the lungs, bitter hurts the lungs, xin hurts the liver, and Gando hurts the kidneys."
The ancients deduced from the five elements theory the modern medical concept of "salt (salt) more sadness (cardiovascular)". Therefore, patients with high blood pressure should "avoid mouth" and eat less salt. Especially pickled and salted foods, it is better to eat less or not to eat.
Modern Western medicine holds the same view. The highest level of professional advice in Western medicine is the clinical guideline. Guidelines recommend that patients with hypertension should limit salt. The World Health Organization (WHO)/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) issued a statement arguing that sodium salt intake must be controlled to less than 5 grams per day to achieve a reduction in blood pressure.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends an ideal target of 1500 mg (3.8 g of sodium) per day for hypertensive patients, and at least 1000 mg of sodium intake (2.5 g of sodium) per day to reduce blood pressure if this target is not achieved.
The salt restriction recommendations for the 2018 Chinese Hypertension Prevention and Treatment Guidelines are less than 6 g of sodium per person per day. It can be seen that regarding the need for salt restrictions for hypertension, ancient and modern China and foreign countries can be described as "heroes see slightly the same".
Although "salt restriction" has long been deeply rooted in the medical profession, the sodium intake of mainland residents is still generally exceeded.
A February 2016 survey showed that from 2009 to 2012, the average daily sodium intake on the mainland was 9.1 grams, far exceeding the World Health Organization's recommendation of 5 grams per day. Therefore, the salt limit can be described as "the road is long and the road is long".
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
Second, how can patients with hypertension "eat less salt"?
How should patients with high blood pressure "eat less salt"? Most of the salt that mainlanders "eat" comes from salt added during the cooking of food, including soy sauce and pickles. In addition, the following foods are commonly included.
The elderly often complain that the meal is too light and tasteless, which may mislead the person who cooks to add more salt, but this is actually a physiological phenomenon, the elderly body function is decreasing, not only in the slow movement, vision and hearing decline, taste will slowly decline. Obviously, a lot of salt dishes have been put in, and the old man still feels that the taste is light.
Family members should understand this, explain the reasons to the elderly in the appropriate situation, and let the elderly gradually adapt to the light way of eating. Similar situations are also common among smokers, long-term smoking will damage people's sense of taste, so that the "old smoking gun" to take charge of the family will often ingest a large amount of "excessive" salt.
On the other hand, the sodium intake needs of adolescents and children during growth and development are relatively reduced. The World Health Organization recommends that children should moderately reduce their daily sodium intake by 2 grams (equivalent to 5 grams of salt).
In addition, the geographical environment of different countries and regions is different, and it is recommended to adjust the sodium intake of adolescents and children according to local conditions. Overall, sodium demand is positively correlated with caloric consumption, and the greater the calorie consumption, the greater the sodium demand.
Third, how do we reduce the intake of dietary sodium salts in daily life?
The following suggestions may be helpful.
First, reduce the amount of cooking sodium salt. Each person should not put more than 2 grams of salt per meal, that is, the amount of a standard salt spoon, and the daily intake of salt per person should not exceed 6 grams, which is equivalent to the amount of an ordinary beer bottle cap. For the elderly with a loss of taste, you can add a small plate of vinegar or chili pepper as a condiment.
Second, try to avoid condiments such as soy sauce and soybean sauce, and eat less traditional pickled products such as squeezed vegetables, pickles, cured meats, and salted fish with high salt content. It is recommended to eat more fresh vegetables, and various sour juices can be used to add flavor to food during the cooking process, such as vinegar, tomato juice or lemon juice.
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
In addition, it is recommended to consume potassium-rich foods, including beans, mushrooms, black dates, almonds, walnuts, peanuts, potatoes, bamboo shoots, lean meat, fish, poultry, root vegetables such as amaranth, rapeseed and green onions, fruits such as bananas, dates, peaches, oranges, etc. Recommended high-potassium fruits and vegetables are shown in the figure below.
Of course, any food should be moderate, not more. "Too much is too late" is an ancient admonition given to us by Confucius more than 2,000 years ago, and it is still used infinitely.
Low potassium :
Fruits: apples, pears, purple grapes;
Vegetables: winter melon, pumpkin, mung bean sprouts, soybean sprouts, white radish, onions, zucchini, loofah
Medium potassium:
Fruits: oranges, oranges, apricots, peaches, loquats;
Vegetables: cabbage, garlic seedlings, hollow cabbage, lentils, tomatoes, celery, toon, eggplant, green peppers, cucumbers, cauliflower, carrots, lotus roots, holland beans, shallots, cabbage, artemisia annua, lettuce
High potassium:
Fruits: bananas, plantains, coconuts, durians, dried fruits (preserved apricots, dried apricots, prunes, dates, dried figs, dried grapes)
Vegetables: bitter melon, potatoes, amaranth, rapeseed, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, sherry, mustard greens, garlic, taro, sweet potatoes, ginger, red peppers
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
Co-author: Dr. Huang Huiling, First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University
*The content of this article is a popularization of health knowledge and cannot be used as a specific diagnosis and treatment recommendation, nor is it a substitute for face-to-face consultation by a practicing physician, for reference only.
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