“Stop using salt. It will raise blood pressure.” Ever hear this before?

One of salt’s major purposes is to regulate the volume of blood and its pressure as well as  the flexibility of the blood vessels.   The human heart is a big pump. When it contracts, it forces blood through the arteries of the circulatory system; that pressure is “systolic,” the “top” number. Between heartbeats, the heart relaxes. Pressure measured between heartbeats is “diastolic,” the “bottom” number. When blood volume increases or the blood vessel walls don’t expand enough, blood pressure increases. Normal blood pressure is less than 130/85 according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.  In a population,  blood pressures are a good indicator of the incidence of cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes. The standard, accepted approach is that public policy should demand reduced sodium intakes to lower population blood pressure and, with it, the risk of heart attacks and strokes. But how accurate is this statement?

According to the medical studies done in Cornell Medical School’s Hypertensive Institute, particularly the famous “Intersalt study” with over 10,000 participants around the world, it was clearly shown that salt intake has nothing to do with an increase in blood pressure.

The major cause?

Obesity.