How does a low sodium diet help lower blood pressure

To keep a heart-healthy diet and help lower blood pressure, it’s important to watch the amount of salt (sodium) in your diet. Eating foods with a lot of sodium can lead to high blood pressure and other health conditions. Your total amount of sodium per day should be no more than 1,500-2,000 milligrams (mg).

Sodium and salt are often used as synonyms, but they don’t mean the same thing. Table salt is a compound found in nature, while sodium is one of the chemical elements in salt.

Many foods have hidden sodium, and the amount of sodium in packaged foods can be quite high. Choosing low-sodium or low-salt products and not adding salt in cooking can help you limit your sodium intake. Here are a few more easy tips to get you started:

High-sodium foods you should avoid

• Seasonings with salt: This includes “lite salt,” seasoned salts, and onion and garlic salts. Also, beware of other ingredients often used in cooking. These include baking soda, baking powder, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, barbecue sauce, and instant soup mixes.
• Foods with visible salt crystals: Examples of these include salted nuts, potato chips, tortilla chips, salted popcorn, crackers, and pretzels.
• Processed and canned foods: Canned vegetables, canned soup, canned beans, stew, chili, tomato/spaghetti/pizza sauce, and baked and refried beans all have added sodium.
• Frozen and packaged quick meals: This includes boxed mac and cheese, rice and noodle mixes, instant oatmeal, and instant cocoa mix.
• Baked goods or prepared mixes: Foods where you just add water or a couple of ingredients, such as biscuits, cornbread, muffins, pancakes, and cakes are in this category.
• Cured or canned meat: This includes ham, bacon, salt pork, sausage, cold cuts (like bologna and salami), hot dogs, and Spam.
• High-sodium dairy products: Most cheese, cottage cheese, processed cheese spreads, and buttermilk are part of this group.
• Condiments and other toppings: These include olives, pickles, ketchup, prepared mustard, and commercially prepared salad dressings. 

Cancel out sodium with potassium to help lower blood pressure

Research shows that potassium helps cancel sodium’s effect on blood pressure. It also likely lowers the risk of stroke. Many of us don’t get enough potassium in our diets. Eating more fruits and vegetables high in potassium can help.

• Vegetables high in potassium include potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, raisins, lima beans, and lentils.
• Fruits high in potassium include bananas, oranges, watermelon, and cantaloupe.

Note: Some people should not eat a high-potassium diet, especially if you’re on certain medicines. Be sure to check with your physician or registered dietitian.

Read more from UC Davis Health: Ways to lower blood pressure naturally through your diet

How to find sodium content on food labels

Sodium has many names other than salt, so you should read the ingredient list. Look for anything with the word “sodium,” such as monosodium glutamate or sodium bicarbonate (also known as baking soda).

When reading labels for sodium, always check the serving size. A low-sodium food will have 140 mg or less per serving. These foods often say “Low Sodium” on the package. Aim to avoid or limit foods with more than 500 mg per serving. 

A prepackaged meal should have no more than 500 mg of sodium. Be careful about foods that say, “reduced sodium” or “less sodium.” These foods are not always low in sodium but are reduced or less than the original. 

Your physician or registered dietitian can give you specific guidelines for your sodium intake.

What are other ways you can lower your blood pressure? 

• Lose weight: For every 20 pounds you lose, you could see a drop in blood pressure by 5 to 20 points.
• Follow the DASH diet: DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) was developed to lower blood pressure without medication. Eating a lower-fat diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and low-fat dairy foods could reduce your blood pressure by 8 to 14 points.
• Exercise daily: Getting 30 minutes each day of aerobic activity can help reduce your blood pressure.
• Limit alcohol: Men should have no more than two drinks a day. It’s advised that women stick to one drink a day. One drink is about 12 oz. of beer, 5 oz. of wine, or 1.5 oz. of 80-proof whiskey.

If you have high blood pressure, or hypertension, you may want to consider participating in our blood pressure classes and programs. Learn more about UC Davis Health's blood pressure classes.

Published: February 15, 2021

By Kat Long, American Heart Association News

Reducing sodium intake by any amount can lower blood pressure over the long term – and may benefit everyone, including people with normal blood pressure, new research shows.

While the link between consuming less-salty foods and lower blood pressure is well established, researchers wanted to understand the exact nature of the link over a range of daily sodium amounts, not simply the results of eating a high-salt versus low-salt diet.

After analyzing 85 studies that followed participants for up to three years, they found any reduction in sodium decreases both systolic blood pressure (the top number in a reading) and diastolic pressure (the bottom number). This trend was seen across a spectrum of daily sodium levels, with no evidence there was a bottom threshold in benefit.

"We found this decrease in sodium was beneficial for people consuming very low sodium intakes, having normal blood pressure, and in the long term," said Dr. Marco Vinceti, senior author of the analysis published Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation. Vinceti is professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia Medical School in Italy and an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Public Health.

Too much sodium in your system promotes water retention in the bloodstream. Over time, the extra volume of blood can stress and stiffen blood vessels, making the heart work harder to maintain blood flow. The whole process can lead to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

The ideal daily sodium limit to maintain healthy blood pressure, and thus lower the risk for cardiovascular diseases, has been debated for years. While people do need some sodium – less than 500 milligrams a day – to maintain the body's functions, most Americans eat far too much of it.

The average person consumes about 3,400 mg of sodium per day, and most of it comes from packaged and prepared foods, according to federal dietary guidelines. Those guidelines recommend adults consume no more than 2,300 mg per day – that's about 1 teaspoon of salt – to avoid hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The AHA, however, recommends most adults limit daily intake to 1,500 mg.

Vinceti said the study's findings support the AHA guidance. "The lower, the better," he said. "Even below 1.5 grams (1,500 mg), there is a decrease in blood pressure."

Indeed, for every 2,300 mg reduction in sodium intake, systolic blood pressure fell by an average of 5.6 millimeters of mercury and diastolic pressure fell by 2.3 mmHg.

The study is not a comprehensive assessment of sodium because it looked only at blood pressure as an outcome, Vinceti said. However, because uncontrolled high blood pressure is a top risk factor for heart disease, stroke and neurological conditions like dementia, "we think this is probably – as most people think – the most important point to be assessed," he said.

The findings suggest people who reduce their sodium intake through eating a healthier diet could see significant impacts on cardiovascular health. Among the studies analyzed, those based on a modification of diet showed a bigger effect than those that used other interventions.

Simply eating healthier may itself be having an effect, said Dr. J. Brian Byrd, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. He was not involved in the study.

"Just changing the amount of sodium in the diet had an effect in the study, no question," he said. "But it seems like you magnify that effect when you improve your diet in general."

For those looking to lower their blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk, Byrd said, "one of the messages seems to be that changing the diet for a healthier one will be even more powerful than just reducing salt."

If you have questions or comments about this story, please email [email protected].

Does low

How does sodium affect blood pressure?

How quickly does reducing salt intake lower blood pressure?