High Blood Pressure? Here's how much salt you should cut down on, to protect your heart

One of the critical components of keeping the heart healthy and avoiding complications of high blood pressure is monitoring salt use. Scientific studies and health authorities from all over the world seem to come together in practical recommendations that will help keep intake within safe limits. Knowing how much salt you can safely consume, and ways to cut excessive sodium from your diet can go a long way toward improving your blood pressure control. Salt, or sodium chloride, has a direct impact on blood pressure because sodium alters the amount of water in the body. Water follows sodium, so if a person consumes high amounts of sodium, they retain more water.

An increased salt intake may clearly provoke an expansion in circulating volumes, an increase in flow and BP values, and thus a