Does Salt Cause High Blood Pressure?

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Both sea salt and rock salt were well-known
to the ancient Greeks who noted that eating
salty food affected basic body functions such
as digestion and excretion (urine and stools).
This led to salt being used medically. The healing
methods of Hippocrates (460 BC) especially made
frequent use of salt. Salt-based remedies were
thought to have expectorant powers. A mixture
of water and salt was employed as an emetic.

Drinking a mixture of two-thirds cow’s milk and
one-third salt-water, in the mornings, on an empty
stomach was recommended as a cure for diseases
of the spleen. A mixture of salt and honey was
applied topically to clean bad ulcers and salt-water
was used externally against skin diseases and freckles.

Hippocrates also mentions inhalation of steam from
salt-water. We know today that the antiinflammatory
effects of inhaled salt provide relief from respiratory
symptoms (c).

Thus, 2000 years ago, Greek medicine had already
discovered topical use of salt for skin lesions, drinking
salty or mineralized waters for digestive troubles and
inhaling salt for respiratory diseases!

The doctor and alchemist Paracelsus (1493-1541 A.D.)
introduced an entirely new medical concept. He believed
that external factors create disease and conceived a
chemically oriented medical system which contrasted
with the prevalent herbal medicine. Only salted food
could be digested properly: ‘The human being must
have salt, he cannot be without salt. Where there is no
salt, nothing will remain, but everything will tend to rot.’

He recommended salt water for the treatment of wounds
and for use against intestinal worms. A hip-bath in salt
water was a superb remedy for skin diseases and itching:
‘This brine – he said – is better than all the health spas
arising out of nature.’ He described the diuretic effect
of salt consumption and prescribed salt preparations of
different strengths that were used for instance against
constipation.

‘In recent years there has been much publicity about
the need to reduce salt consumption in societies where
salt is added to many processed foods
(Denton 1984, 584-7).

It has tended to be forgotten that some salt intake is
absolutely necessary; that people need salt, sodium
chloride, to survive: The chemical requirements of the
human body demand that the salt concentration in the
blood be kept constant. If the body does not get enough
salt, a hormonal mechanism compensates by reducing
the excretion of salt in the urine and sweat. But it
cannot reduce this output to zero.

On a completely salt-free diet the body steadily loses
small amounts of salt via the kidneys and sweat glands.
It then attempts to adjust this by accelerating its
secretion of water, so that the blood’s salt
concentration can be maintained at the vital level.
The result is a gradual desiccation of the body
and finally death.’ Roy Moxham

An eight-year study of a New York City hypertensive
population stratified for sodium intake levels found
those on low-salt diets had more than four times as
many heart attacks as those on normal-sodium diets –
the exact opposite of what the ‘salt hypothesis’ would
have predicted. (1995)

Dr. Jeffrey R. Cutler documented no health outcomes
benefits of lower-sodium diets. Salt Institute

A past president of the American Heart Association,
Dr. Suzanne Oparil of the University of Alabama-
Birmingham, said her personal view is that the
government may have been too quick to
recommend that everyone cut back. ‘Salt
restriction as a solitary recommendation for the
population for the prevention or the treatment
of hypertension.

Where to purchase real, unrefined liquid salt go to:

http://www.phmiracleliving.com/phlavor.htm
http://www.phmiracleliving.com/pHourSalts.htm

An abundance of the ingredients in unrefined real salt
are as synonymous with life today as they were a billion
years ago before single cells appeared here. Lack of
them is synonymous with birth defects, organ failure,
decay, diseases, premature aging and death at a
young age.

The problem with salt is not the salt itself but the
condition of the salt we eat – refined! Major producing
companies dry their salt in huge kilns with temperatures
reaching 1200 degrees F, changing he salt’s chemical
structure, which in turn adversely affects the human
body.

The facts are that in the heating process of salt,
the element sodium chloride goes off into the air
as a gas. What remains is sodium hydroxate which
is irritating to the system and does not satisfy the
body’s hunger and need for sodium chloride. Sodium
and chloride are two of the 12 daily essential
minerals.

In countries which do not alter their salt supply,
heart disease and arthritis are so rare that many
doctors have never seen a case. Their salt is dried
from the ocean by the sun. Many people believe
that salt is harmful to the human body.

The truth is we cannot live without sodium or chloride
salt. From salt the body makes sodium bicarbonate which
is one of the essential compounds for alkalizing the
food we eat. Also, from salt the body makes iron for
producing the hemoglobin of the red blood cell.

Cl + O Mn + H Fe or

chloride + Oxygen = Manganese + Hydrogen = Iron.

There is not enough natural salt in our foods, so we
must supplement our diet. When salt is withheld,
weakness and sickness follow.

Try this experiment: Mix a spoonful of salt in a
glass of water and let it stand overnight. If the salt
collects on the bottom of the glass, it has been
processed.

NATURAL SALT DISSOLVES! Salt that will not dissolve
in water cannot dissolve in your body. Any foreign
substance that collects in the body organs and tissues
will eventually result in malfunctioning of essential
body processes: heart disease, arthritis, hardening
of the body tissues and arteries, calcium deposits
in the joints, etc. Natural organic salt (saline) will
not cause calcification in your body. Real sea salt can
dissolve damaging calcium deposits in the body.

Science and medicine have tried to define the precise
roles of salt in the healthy and diseased human organism.
Blood, sweat, and tears all contain salt, and both the
skin and the eyes are protected from metabolic acids
from the effects of salt. When salt is added to a liquid,
particles with opposite charges are formed: a positively
charged sodium ion and a negatively charged chloride ion.

This is the basis of osmosis which regulates fluid
pressure within living cells and protects the body
against excessive water loss (as in diarrhea or on
heavy sweating).

Sodium and chloride ions, as well as potassium ions,
create a measurable difference in potential across cell
membranes. This ensures that the fluid inside living cells
remains separate from that outside. Thus, although the
human body consists mainly of water, our ‘inner ocean’
does not flow away or evaporate. Sodium ions create a
high pressure of liquid in the kidneys and thus regulate
their metabolic function.

Water is extracted through the renal drainage system.
The body thus loses a minimal amount of essential
alkaline water. Out of 1500 liters of blood which pass
daily through the kidneys, only about 1.5 liters of liquid
leave the body as urine.

Salt is ‘fuel’ for nerves. Streams of positively and
negatively charged ions send impulses to nerve fibers.
A muscle cell will only contract if an impulse reaches it.
Nerve impulses are partly propelled by coordinated
changes in charged particles.

Fish from the ocean will die quickly if placed in a
solution of refined salt and water. The sodium
chloride, in its form as it comes from the refinery,
is actually poisonous to them. Bottom line, is that
yes it can be harmful to consume too much refined
salt, but you cannot consume too much natural
unrefined liquid real salt.

For more information on the healthful benefits
of real mineral sea salt go to:

http://www.phmiracleliving.com/phlavor.htm
http://www.phmiracleliving.com/pHourSalts.htm

In conclusion the question, “does salt cause
high blood pressure?” The answer is absolutely
NOT! High blood pressure is caused by dietary
and metabolic acids that are not being properly
eliminated through urination, defecation,
perspiration and respiration. The truth is, you
do not get high blood pressure you do high
blood pressure with your lifestyle and dietary
choices. Sodium chloride is the key to reducing
and normalizing blood pressure and maintaining
healthy pulse rate below 70 beats a minute.

http://www.phmiracleliving.com/phlavor.htm
http://www.phmiracleliving.com/pHourSalts.htm

10 thoughts on “Does Salt Cause High Blood Pressure?”

  1. I have been using 1 table spoon of sodium bicarbonate in 1 L of distilled water, four times per day as you recommended in another thread. I am also currently on the fifth day of my very first cleanse (I love the popeye soup by the way – yum).However, today when I was at the grocery store picking up kale, avocados, cucumber, spinach and broccoli, I decided to check my blood pressure at those automated machines near the pharmacy. The results were 150/90 with 88 beats per minute. I tested it a second and third time and sure enough, they were just as high. Could you please tell me what I’m doing wrong?Thanks so much.

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  2. Ok, so who is right. With zero salt in my diet my BP is normal. If i consume food that contains any salt, my BP rises to 130/90 within 1 hour.johnSalt: The Shocking TruthbyHealthyguy, M.A. Are you slowly losing your eyesight or hearing as you age? Do you seem to be experiencing erectile dysfunction, prostate difficulties, or other organ and sexually related problems as you grow older? Well, it may be related to your salt consumption. A slow deterioration of eyesight, hearing, prostate problems, erectile dysfunction, and premature aging are all problems related to smoking, however if you don’t smoke and are still experiencing some of these problems as you grow older, you might want to examine your salt consumption. Smoking destroys the elasticity of the arterial walls throughout the entire body and restricts blood flow through the smaller capillaries causing an eventual deterioration of the eyesight, hearing, prostate, and subsequent erectile dysfunction due to an abundance of free radicals 1 from constituents of the gas phase of tobacco smoke 2 which are deposited in the arteries. This creates serious problems throughout the body and especially to life sustaining organs due to diminished blood flow and lack of oxygen. Salt also destroys the elasticity of arteries and capillaries just as smoking does except that salt is a totally different constituent. The common name for the damage which salt does to the arteries is hardening of the arteries, and it will ultimately cause a stroke and possible death when an artery eventually becomes too brittle and breaks from the hardening effect that is taking place. This damage to the arteries is very similar to the tobacco smoke damage. When arteries lack the proper elasticity, blood has a difficult time getting into the capillaries, the small thin-walled vessels, in route to a healthy organ because efficient blood flow is dependent upon proper expansion and contraction of arteries and capillaries. The organ becomes even more effected when the size of the artery decreases due to excessive salt or free radical deposits on the arterial walls. The blood flow through the capillaries diminishes causing deterioration of the eyes, hearing, prostate, and sexual organs. The results can be devastating if an organ cannot get proper blood flow. The process of aging is directly correlated to the condition of the arteries. 3 Deposits from salt and other free radicals form on the arterial walls and are a major contributor to aging. Keeping the arteries clean is the key to longevity and good health. You have probably been told that you need salt for your body or that a little bit of salt will not hurt you. Well, the truth is that you don’t need salt at all. You need sodium! So why all the confusion about needing salt in your diet? It is like this. Sodium is an important mineral in the body as it is responsible for sending the message from the brain to muscles through the nervous system so that your body will move its muscles on command. When you want to move your arm or any muscle in the body, the brain sends a message to a sodium molecule who passes it to a potassium molecule and then back to a sodium molecule etc., etc., until it gets to its final destination and the muscle moves. This is known as the sodium-potassium ion exchange. Therefore without sodium, you would never be able to move one muscle of your body. Regardless, it is not common table salt that the body needs in order to sustain life. It is sodium. Sodium just happens to be an element in common table salt which is known as sodium chloride and that is where the confusion exists. Therefore, salt is not a necessary compound in order for the body to survive, but rather sodium is the necessary life sustaining element. Ironically, sodium is found in all plants so you are getting plenty of sodium everyday without even realizing it every time you eat a food that comes from a plant. Studies by the Department of Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin have shown 4 that blood pressure is not increased by a high sodium intake unless it is accompanied by chloride. Common table salt being sodium chloride, therefore, actually destroys life rather than sustains it as we are led to believe. Are you addicted to certain foods because they appear to taste so good? Well, they may be loaded with common table salt. Bertino, Beauchamp, and Engleman 5 have shown that the amount of salt preferred is dependent on the amount of salt consumed. In other words, if you are used to eating high amounts of salt, you will be more likely to choose other foods for your diet which are high in salt. The types of food you choose may be entirely dependent on the amount of salt you are consuming. Food appears to taste better with salt, but it is only an illusion. It is the salt you like and not the food. Have you ever noticed how much more of a certain type of food you will eat when it contains just the right amount of salt? You are convinced that it tastes delicious, but it is only the inclusion of just the right amount of salt that tricks the brain into believing that the food tastes better. Does the food actually taste better or is it just that you like the taste of common table salt? After all, it’s no secret that salted food tastes better. The million dollar question is, “Do you really want to include common table salt, a substance that slowly destroys the body over time, in your diet everyday and never give your body a break from it?” It can take as long as two to four days to get all the salt out your body but the first thing you will notice is that, your extremities, your hands and feet, will become thinner. You will instantly realize just how swollen your extremities become from including salt in your diet everyday. How do you know if you are eating too much salt? Under normal conditions, if you become very thirsty after a delicious meal, chances are that meal contained large amounts of salt. By this time the salt has already entered every cell in your body because salt molecules are smaller than the hole in the cell wall and will literally pull water into the cell. Salt molecules esentially become trapped within the cell and osmosis causes the cells to swell, taking water away from other parts of the body, and making you thirsty until you drink enough water so that equilibrium is established and there is the same amount of water on the outside of the cell as there is on the inside. This is the process of osmosis that takes place inside the body when you consume table salt. Cheese is an excellent example of how the brain can be easily tricked. It is difficult to stop eating cheese with only one bite because it tastes so good. However, have you ever eaten saltless cheese? I guarantee that you will not want a second bite of saltless cheese unless you have previously acquired a taste for it. It is extremely bitter and something you would definitely have to acquire a taste for in order to enjoy it. Another example is butter or margarine. Try using saltless butter or margarine on your toast. You will find out that your toast is absolutely tasteless, and you will realize how you have been tricked all your life. So if you are addicted to salt without knowing it, there is hope. Once you are eventually aware of your high salt intake, you can then create change. Your preferred salt level can be lowered simply by reducing your overall salt intake. 5 In other words, your taste buds can easily adapt to changes if you give them a chance. Restricting salt exposure for 8-12 weeks6 enhances the normal taste of foods and lowers your preferred salt level. Foods extremely high in salt include cheese, butter, margarine, chips, ham, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, salsa, soy sauce, canned, and packaged foods. You might have found yourself saying, “I don’t ever salt my food.” Well, when you’re able, read the label. Start looking at the ingredients of all the foods you eat, and you may just find that common table salt is in everything you eat. If it tastes too good to be true, you can bet it’s the salt. Getting your sodium from plants rather than from common table salt is one of the better choices you can make. It has been demonstrated that sodium from plants will not cause high blood pressure. Not only does common table salt, sodium chloride, cause high blood pressure7 and hardening of the arteries, but it also causes unnecessary swelling in every cell of the body and overworks the heart. Getting minerals, like sodium, from plants will help keep your arteries young and elastic. Your blood will flow more efficiently helping to rejuvenate your life sustaining organs, and your sense of smell will improve significantly. Reduction of table salt will assist in prolonging your health, well being, and reduce the risk of strokes which are associated with high levels of common table salt. If you are concerned with longevity and good health, limiting the amount of common table salt in your diet is one of the better choices you can make in your lifetime in order to maintain a healthy and youthful body inside and out. REFERENCESEiserich, J.P., van der Vliet, A., Handelman, G.J., Halliwell, B., and Cross, C: Dietary antioxidants and cigarette smoke-induced biomolecular damage: a complex interaction. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 62, 1490S-1500S, 1995. Eiserich, J.P., van der Vliet, A., Handelman, G.J., Halliwell, B., and Cross, C: Dietary antioxidants and cigarette smoke-induced biomolecular damage: a complex interaction. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 62, 1490S-1500S, 1995. Cutler, RG: Antioxidants and aging. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 53, 373S-379S, 1991. Kotchen, TA and Kotchen, JM: Dietary sodium and blood pressure: interactions with other nutrients. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 65, 708S-711S, 1997. Bertino, M., Beauchamp, G.K., and Engelman, K: Long-term reduction in dietary sodium alters the taste of salt. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 36, 1134-1144, 1982. Mattes, RD:The taste for salt in humans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 65, 692S-697S, 1997. Sacks, Frank M., et.al.:Effects on Blood Pressure of Reduced Dietary Sodium and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 344, No. 1, January 4, 2001.

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  3. Salt: “The Shocking Truth”The doctor/author of this failed to mention the importance of iodine. Iodine is critical to the metabolic process. To tell someone they should not eat table salt means you know that they are getting plenty of iodine from sea foods or supplements.The Thyroid gland can’t produce the hormones the body needs for proper metabolism without sufficient iodine levels. Reduced iodine levels will eventually cause the thyroid to become inflamed. It can even damage the thyroid to the point you have to take hormone supplements for the rest of your life!!!Some of the symptoms caused by low thyroid hormones are a body temperature below 98.6, no energy, loss of strength, low endurance, and weight gain.You only get iodine from 2 sources: Sea food and table salt. Sea salt has little or no iodine. Therefore, you have to use table salt once or twice a week. Unless you consume at least 2 servings of sea food a week you need table salt to supplement your iodine intake. No plant or animal foods that grow on land or in fresh water contain iodine. You have to eat sea food or use table salt.Sorry, to break the bad news to all you salt haters. Fact is fact. Before the government made it mandatory that table salt have iodine added to it there were a lot of thyroid related diseases. With the government imposed iodine supplements, thyroid related diseases are about 90% less.Do you know what happens when you have metabolic disorders related to low thyroid hormone output? First you feel sick. You also get sick more often. You can fall victim to a number of diseases that are typically just assigned to getting old like arthritis, type 2 diabetes, psoriasis, gout, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc……Before anyone considers changing their diet to a low or no salt regimen, please do your research. There is always 2 sides to every story.Of course, you should not drown your food in salt. Just 2 teaspoons of table salt per week is all you need to suppliment your iodine intake.

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  4. I find your response about Iodine breathtaking. Table Salt is made of of sodium and chloride. The sodium is good and the chorlide is toxic at almost any levels. The government has mandated iodine be added to table salt… so we are all required now to consume table salt to get iodine??? Maybe if they added iodine to horse manure you would insist we eat that too. As far as the thyroid goes, you can kill your thyriod even easier with too much iodine.Jonathan eliminate chloride (table salt) and see what happens to your blood pressure. Don't forget to eat fish and or sea vegtables so you can get iodine.World's Healthiest Foods ranked as quality sources of:iodine Food ServingSize Cals Amount(mcg) DV(%) NutrientDensity World'sHealthiestFoods Rating Kelp (sea vegetable) 0.25 cup 8.6 415.00 276.7 579.1 excellent Yogurt, low-fat 1 cup 155.1 87.22 58.1 6.8 very good Cow's milk, 2% 1 cup 121.2 58.56 39.0 5.8 very good Egg, whole, boiled 1 each 68.2 23.76 15.8 4.2 very good Strawberries 1 cup 43.2 12.96 8.6 3.6 very good Mozzarella cheese, part-skim, shredded 1 oz-wt 72.1 10.09 6.7 1.7 good World's HealthiestFoods Rating Rule excellent DV>=75% OR Density>=7.6 AND DV>=10% very good DV>=50% OR Density>=3.4 AND DV>=5% good DV>=25% OR Density>=1.5 AND DV>=2.5%

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  5. Some of the symptoms caused by low thyroid hormones are a body temperature below 98.6, no energy, loss of strength, low endurance, and weight gain.High blood pressure cure supplement, natural herbal remedy to lower & control high blood pressure. Use Alistrol everyday to help maintain healthy circulation and support cardio-vascular health.

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  6. Some of the symptoms caused by low thyroid hormones are a body temperature below 98.6, no energy, loss of strength, low endurance, and weight gain.High blood pressure cure supplement, natural herbal remedy to lower & control high blood pressure. Use Alistrol everyday to help maintain healthy circulation and support cardio-vascular health.

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  7. Thanks for sharing such a nice information from this blog. I found it so interesting at last i found now what i am looking for.Please continue the good work and I look forward to more of your nice posts in creating the new SharePoint group. Its great. smoking blends

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