Salt is the spice of life. In fact, it gives our food a unique taste that is lacking in other condiments. However, if you are an African or an African American; or if you are of the African descent, you should take it easy when it comes to salt use.
Scientists warn that salt, also known as sodium salt, can be harmful to our health. According to them, evidence has emerged that Blacks, especially Africans, are genetically prone to sodium retention, a condition that predisposes people of our race to high blood pressure or hypertension.
Hypertension is a killer. According to the World Health Organisation, about 7.5 million people globally die of hypertension-related diseases, representing 12.8 per cent of all the deaths that occur annually.
In Nigeria, it is estimated that at least one in every four Nigerians has high blood pressure, while about 57 million citizens are estimated to be hypertensive, with many undiagnosed.
This statistics should send shivers down the spine of anyone that has been diagnosed with high blood pressure. More importantly, it should be mind-boggling for those who do not know their status.
Executive Director, Nigerian Heart Foundation, Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, notes that hypertension is the number one killer of the adult population due to its link to heart diseases.
Akinroye says it has also been found that Africans are more susceptible to this condition because of their intolerance for sodium, a major component of salt.
The physician quickly notes that it is not that Africans eat too much of salt; rather, he says, the genetic make-up of Africans is not compatible with salt use, as it increases their risk for hypertension.
Akinroye explains that hypertension causes damage to the blood vessels and vital organs in the body when it is not controlled, leading to heart disease, diabetes and other organ failure.
The physician says the high prevalence of hypertension globally is a major reason why many die suddenly of this rather manageable disease.
Corroborating Akinroye’s assertions, the medical consultant to Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc, Dr. Jude Duru-Onweni, says that sodium retention is, more often than not, the precursor of high blood pressure.
According to him, local studies by Nigerian scientists have found that most Africans who have hypertension usually have sodium retention. He says, “The black DNA system cannot manage salt, compared to the Caucasians.”
Duru-Onweni says that a major way in which salt creeps into the body system is through our diets. According to him, the fast foods and snacks that are popular among the upwardly mobile these days are laden with questionable and unacceptable concentrations of salt.
He says, “Salt is not just the physical salt we see. All packaged foods are preserved with a high concentration of salt. All fizzy drinks are also preserved with salt. In reality, all those ‘slow’ (indicating how fast foods slow down metabolism) foods which people call fast foods slowly lead you to death because they are laden with salt.
“We are so scared about the coming generation because they eat a lot of fast foods. They don’t eat much healthy food,” Duru-Onweni laments.
The ideal way to reduce your risk for high blood pressure, therefore, is to reduce your salt intake by all means through your diet.
However, it is not only salt that spikes blood pressure levels. Some habits such as tobacco use can also predispose anyone to this condition that is responsible for two million cases of disabilities from stroke and paralysis each year.
Physicians say that not only does smoking or chewing tobacco immediately raise your blood pressure temporarily, but the chemicals in tobacco can damage the lining of the artery walls by causing them to narrow, increasing one’s blood pressure thereby.
Natural ways to lower your blood pressure
Eat a healthy diet: Eating a diet that is rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products and skips saturated fat and choles
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