HOW SALT INTAKE RAISES BP

How salt intake raises BP

         Scientists have figured out how salt intake contributes to raising one's blood pressure (BP).
They found that salt intake makes it harder for the body to juggle BP regulation and its temperature simultaneously. For decades, the inability of scientists to explain why salt raises BP in some but not others has hampered the development of a comprehensive theory about high BP, the journal Hypertension Research reports. A team led by professors Robert P. Blankfield at Case Western Reserve University and Ellen L. Glickman at Kent State University tested whether these dual roles of the cardiovascular system might help explain how salt ingestion leads to salt-sensitive hypertension. They found that salt and water ingestion lowered body temperature more than the ingestion of water by itself. Besides, body temperature decreased more in individuals who are salt resistant than in individuals who are salt sensitive, according to a Case Western statement.

        'It appears that salt sensitive individuals maintain core body temperature equilibrium more effectively than salt resistant individuals, but experience increased blood pressure in the process,' Blankfield says. 'Conversely, salt resistant individuals maintain blood pressure equilibrium more effectively than salt sensitive individuals following salt and water intake, but experience a greater temperature reduction in the process.' The cardiovascular system is responsible for maintaining normal BP and also helps control body temperature by conducting heat from the muscles and internal organs to the skin's surface.(mathrubhumi)

                                                              Prof. John Kurakar