Hypertension a.k.a High Blood Pressure
Blood pressure is the measure of the force that the blood does towards the blood vessels and high blood pressure or hypertension is when the force is harder than the usual one. Consistently having high blood pressure makes the heart do extra work to pump out the blood throughout the body and it will cause the hardening of the blood vessel and eventually lead to kidney and heart failure. Thus one should maintain their blood pressure reading between 120mgHg for systolic and 80mmHg for diastolic.
What causes hypertension?
Smoking
Being Overweight
Food High in Sodium
Stress
Older Age
Genetic
Heavy Alcohol Drinker
Chronic Kidney Failure
Sleep Apnea
Above all, having high sodium or salt diet is the leading factor to hypertension. So it also means that hypertension can be controlled by changing your daily diet. It should be a diet low in sodium now.
How much sodium is considered low sodium?
Low sodium food is defined as food with a sodium concentration, not more than 0.12 g/100 g (solid) or 0.06 g/100 ml (liquid).
Meanwhile, the general recommendation by WHO (2012) of 2000 mg sodium or less than one teaspoon or 5 g salt or sodium chloride is adopted as a population nutrient intake goal for Malaysians.
Some might say that they did not put too much salt into the meal but actually sodium also can be found in other types of food without us knowing.
Salt or sodium is also written as Sodium Chloride, Sodium Nitrate, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), Nitrium Chloride, Sodium Benzoate, Baking Soda, Sodium Bicarbonate, Disodium Phosphate, Sodium Alginate, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Propionate, Sodium Sulfate in the food packaging.
It’s quite confusing, is it?
That’s why in this post I’ve developed this handy-dandy little guide to point out the top 10 food that is high in sodium.
So let’s get started…
#1: Instant Noodle
One pack of instant noodles contains 1340mg of sodium.
#2: Sauces
1 tablespoon of light soy sauce contains 1255mg sodium
1 tablespoon of thick soy sauce contains 564mg sodium.
1 tablespoon of fish sauce / budu contains 1032mg of sodium.
#3: Pickled Vegetables and Fruits
1 cup of pickled vegetables contains 938mg sodium while 100g of spicy pickled fruits contains 1480mg sodium!
#4: Stock Cube
1 cube chicken broth contains 1152mg sodium.
1 cube beef broth contains 864mg sodium.
1 piece of shrimp paste contains 629mg sodium while 1 tablespoon fermented shrimp (cencalok) contains 897mg sodium.
#5: Canned Food
1/2 cup canned baked bean contains 365 mg sodium
1 tin fish curry has 1056 mg sodium
1 cup canned vegetables contain 777 mg sodium
1/2 cup canned tomato soup contains 804mg sodium
1/2 cup canned corn beef has 777mg sodium
1 can mutton curry has 708mg sodium
1 small can of sardine has 476mg of sodium
#6: Dried Food
1/2 cup dried anchovy without head and entrails contains 758mg sodium
1 whole medium dried trevally, yellow-banded (selar kuning, kering) contains 1113mg sodium
#7: Fast Food
1 piece (140 g) fried chicken contains 664mg of sodium
1 whole cheeseburger contains 864mg of sodium
#8: Processed Food
1 whole beef burger contains 554 mg of sodium
2 whole large fish ball (bebola ikan) contains 378mg of sodium
# 9: Chips
1 big packet potato chip has 655mg sodium
#10: Nut
1 cup mixed nuts, salt added contains 917mg sodium
Based on the above food lists, some already exceeded the ‘low sodium” rules in the diet for hypertensive patients, and some almost achieved the tolerable upper intake if taken twice a day. Be aware of the sodium content of the food that you take.
The bottomline
Congratulations – you now know how to control your blood pressure by taking care of your diet. So the next thing you need to do is take action. Because the sooner you do, the sooner you can see the good control of your blood pressure reading.
