What is the ideal amount of salt that one can consume?

Question

Hello doctor,

How much salt should a person consume in general and how much should a person with high blood pressure consume? I have come to know that taking less amount of salt in food is good for the heart and other organ’s health.

Kindly suggest.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com

Yes, many food options today are filled with preservatives, sugar, or salt. Eating these foods can make you gain weight, which can lead to health problems like diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. These issues can also harm your heart. Also excess salt in the diet leads to bloating and more water weight. A customized diet plan needs more details like height, weight age, medical issues etc. But I can help you with a quick tip that can help you because as I said invisible salt is present in food counts too for example soda.

Reduce the salt intake in the day-to-day cooking.
Avoid salt-preserved food such as salted or smoked meat.
Highly salted snacks like nuts, potato chips, and popcorn should be avoided.
Food with sodium as a preservative such as sauces, pickles, and chutney should be avoided.
Canned vegetable fruits should be avoided.
Spread out the servings. Have two servings of fruits or vegetables at each meal, or add fruits as snacks. Multiple herbs help to replace salt like ginger garlic paste or crushed mixed herbs etc.
Limit foods with lots of added sugar, such as pies, flavored yogurts, candy bars, ice cream,
Choose ready-to-eat breakfast cereals that are low in sodium.
Regularly exercise (walking, running) for 20 to 30 minutes.
Lastly, start with meal preparation so you can avoid outside food in lack of time.
Daily salt intake depends on many factors like weather, lifestyle exercise or taste preference but it is more of a medical issue than 1 tablespoon spread in all meals.

I hope this helps.

Thank you.