National Institutes of Health
Medications do little to lower high blood pressure when patients do not also limit their salt intake.
This is the take-home lesson from two studies reported in the online edition of Hypertension last week. In each, only people who consumed significantly less sodium saw dramatically lower blood pressures when compared with people who consumed a high-sodium diet. All study patients continued taking drugs to control their blood pressure.
The difference was as great as 23 mm Hg in systolic pressure--the top number--in a 12-person group.
American Heart Association spokeswoman Dr. Martha Daviglus noted that the findings have important implications for people currently classified as having treatment-resistant hypertension.
As Daviglus told HealthDay News, "They give us some hope that by doing a combination of both, we will be able to reach our goal." She said the current therapeutic approach of switching and adding drugs until blood pressure readings went down needed to be augmented with a renewed focus on fostering dietary changes among patients.
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