Best Ways to Cut Hypertension Differ for Westerners, East Asians
Lifestyle modifications are the cornerstone of hypertension prevention, but not all changes work for all populations, suggests a new review published in the journal Hypertension. Because of differences in genes, diet, and lifestyle, the way that blood pressure acts as a contributing factor in stroke risk is different for Westerners and East Asians, according to researcher Yoshihiro Kokubo. Due to certain factors particular to East Asian lifestyles, including a high consumption of salty foods and a genetically higher salt sensitivity, Kokubo said that this population needs to have more counseling about salt consumption. Salt intake by the Northern Japanese is among the highest in East Asia due to high consumption of pickled vegetables, soy sauce, and miso soup, so special approaches should be tailored to this population. – Medscape
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How Much Sodium Should You Consume?
Supermarket dietitian Anne Cundiff provides her recommendations on how consumers should control sodium in their diets. Her recommendation is “one simple thing: Eat real food and don’t worry about it.” According to Cundiff, Americans consume too much processed food at major meals and for snacks, with breads, cured meats, and pizza as the top three processed food sources of sodium in Americans’ diets. Cundiff recommends replacing these items with minimally processed food, such as produce, lean proteins, and whole grains, which offer more freedom to add flavor with herbs and spices. Cundiff concludes by recommending that consumers use moderation by limiting consumption of processed foods to one to two servings a day. – Food & Nutrition
How to Choose Healthy, Tasty Stocks and Broths
Because making stocks or broths for soups from scratch can be time consuming, many people opt for using packaged versions. This article offers suggestions on choosing packaged products that have relatively low levels of sodium and recommends that every consumer be “an avid label reader.” The article also quantifies sodium language used on packaging—including reduced/less sodium, light/lower sodium, low sodium, and very low sodium—and recommends several healthy broth and stock products that are still tasty. – Detroit Free Press
You’ve Cut the Sugar; Now, About the Salt
Although added sugar can contribute to negative health outcomes such as obesity and diabetes, consumers’ preoccupation with it may be distracting them from the threat of sodium. Processed and restaurant foods are responsible for more than 75% of Americans’ sodium intake, suggesting that people should make more efforts to eat at home and cook from scratch. Foods included in CDC’s top 10 sources of sodium account for 44% of total sodium intake and should be consumed in moderation. In addition, specific nutrition regimens, such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, can offer helpful guidelines to reduce sodium intake. The article concludes with specific tips to cut back on sodium, including cooking at home more often and choosing items with fewer milligrams of sodium than calories when shopping for packaged foods. – Health News Digest