"high blood pressure" news and stories

Will there come a time when buying a case of soda will inspire the same nagging sense of guilt that skulking into your local c-store for a pack of cigarettes causes today?

It may sounds farfetched, but a strangely familiar script seems to be playing itself out as a multibillion-dollar American industry (soda makers) finds itself put on the defensive by a barrage of disquieting health news.

The latest story? As NPR reports, a new study conducted by researchers in Britain finds that drinking more than one soda or other sugar-sweetened beverage per day increases your blood pressure, and the more you drink, the higher it goes.

Denny's Breakfast. Photo: jumanggy/flickr

Denny's menu features items that "are dangerously high in sodium," according to the class action lawsuit filed by a New Jersey man with the support of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition and food safety nonprofit group.

Nick DeBenedetto, of Tinton Falls, N.J., a 48-year-old on medication for high-blood pressure, filed the suit Thursday in the New Jersey Superior Court in Middlesex County.

"Denny's menu deceptively presents various items as single meals to be consumed by one individual without disclosing that they contain substantially more sodium (in some cases two or three times more) than the maximum recommended amount for all meals consumed by an individual during a given day," his complaint states.

Denny's Corporation, based out of Spartanburg, S.C., told the Los Angeles Times the suit is "frivolous and without merit."

Salt is an essential component of cooking and in a professional kitchen, chefs are lucky enough to have a sous-chef to offer a second taste opinion. Whenever I eat out, it's one of the things I notice right away, because both under- and over-seasoning ruin the dish for me.

According to a recently released study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, many restaurant chains are guilty of overloading their meals with salt, thus increasing millions of customers' risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, Nearly 85 percent of the adult-sized meals at 10 popular chain restaurants have more than the recommended daily limit for total sodium intake -- 2,300 milligrams, or roughly one teaspoon of table salt.

Most home cooks are keenly aware of the connection between excessive salt consumption and high blood pressure which results from the body's need to dilute high concentrations with additional water. As a result, home cooks tend to err on the side of caution and don't use enough salt to bring out the best of each dish.

So, how do you know if you're using enough salt?

Get Jennifer's smart seasoning and salt-busting tips after the jump.

After successfully forcing NYC restaurants to post calorie counts on menus and to stop cooking with trans fat, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the commissioner of New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, is waging a war on salt. A recent New York Times article explains that he's going after packaged food companies and mass-produced restaurant meals. Apparently, they contribute 80 percent of the sodium in the average American diet. Over the next five years, Dr. Frieden aims to cut the level of salt intake by 25 percent.

Is salt so bad for us? Salt, in some people (not everyone) can lead to high blood pressure which is a leading factor in the incidence of heart attack and stroke. At the same time, many scientists do not believe sodium intake is directly related to high blood pressure. In the past, studies comparing hypertensive populations found that those on low-salt diets had more than four times as many heart attacks as those on normal-sodium diets.

Although the health link may not be clear, what's obvious is that excess of most ingredients cannot be healthy. And, foods at fast-food chains, like McDonald's, are outrageously high in sodium. It seems that if dealt with in a reasonable way, Dr. Frieden's goal can be quite progressive. What do you think?

No wonder people are confused about diets and health. One week coffee is bad for you, the next it's good for you. One week fat is bad for you, but then we find out it depends on what kind of fat it is. One week it's bad to have too many carbs, the next week we find out we need carbs but they have to be the "good" kind.

Now it's salt in the news again. I think salt has always been called "bad" for you, especially if you have high blood pressure or other medical problems. And now the FDA is going to hold hearings on the white stuff.

It's not really the salt you shake on your foods (something I never do anymore) it's the salt already in the packaged foods we buy. According to statistics, 75% of the salt we get comes from packaged foods and not the stuff we add ourselves.