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The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
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People with high blood pressure are often told to watch the salt. And it’s long been thought that hypertension related to excess salt is caused by the salt increasing the volume of the blood. Which in turn puts added pressure on the blood vessel walls. But going back to the 1960s and ‘70s, some researchers thought that the salt might be having a different effect.
Now long-time hypertension researchers Irene and Haralambos Gavras at the Boston University School of Medicine have analyzed the studies in the field and published a review article explaining what they think salt’s role really is: it stimulates the sympathetic nervous system to produce adrenalin. And it’s the adrenalin that constricts the arteries and causes the high blood pressure, not excess fluid volume. The review is in the Journal of Hypertension. [Irene Gavras and Haralambos Gavras, "Volume-expanded' hypertension: the effect of fluid overload and the role of the sympathetic nervous system in salt-dependent hypertension"]
Physicians have accepted a nervous system involvement in hypertension that’s bad enough to cause kidney failure. Fluid-decreasing diuretics are a common treatment in those severe cases. This new analysis implies that researchers should look for additional hypertension treatments that focus on the nervous system.
—Steve Mirsky
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast,]
[Also see "The Salt Wars Rage On" and "It's Time To End The War On Salt"]
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4 Comments
Add CommentSentence one, people with High Blood pressure should watch salt. Sentence two, there is a hypertension related to excess salt. The first suggests those with HTN (hypertension or high blood pressure) watch salt, the second implies that salt is part of the cause.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is about time for the media to quit going ape over salt. Salt can be bad for a lot of sick people (congestive heart failure, pulmonary HTN, kidney disease), but thin healthy people who exercise need salt, those in the desert need salt, our bodies have lots of salt in them so we don't pass out when we stand up, Salt is not evil and there has never been a study (good study) to show salt is bad for healthy people. There are too many unanswered questions regarding salt and who should or should not be ingesting too much. If the studies are so murky that it is hard to prove an association, let alone a cause, how can any adequate health information be forthcoming?
As I understand, congestive heart failure causes the sympathetic nervous system to overproduce adrenalin to increase the pulse rate and compensate for ineffective pulses. As a result, medications that block receptor uptake of adrenaline are the most effective treatment for CHF. If adrenalin was responsible for high blood pressure in those without failing hearts then beta blocking medications should reduce their blood pressure. I don't think this is the case...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHypertension surgery that involves the nervous system already is under review.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe new procedure, called renal sympathetic-nerve ablation, involves placing tiny burns in the nerve responsible for hypertension in some people, The Daily Telegraph reported.
ordinary people would never understand with this idea unless they experienced this. I think it would be better if they can prevent having high blood pressure. what to avoid and what to do are a good idea to share and also watching their BP.
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