People with high blood pressure are often required to eat less salt.
However, some people take antihypertensive drugs on time every day and have a light diet. After doing so for several months, their blood pressure is not controlled as well.
The problem may be that they have neglected another white crystal, sugar.
Why should hypertension not only eat less salt but also less sugar?
Free sugar
Invisible Pushing Hands of Hypertension
Free sugar is also called added sugar, including white granulated sugar, brown sugar, crystal sugar and high fructose syrup added when making food, plus sugar naturally occurring in honey and fruit juice.
Different from the starch contained in rice and noodles, fructose in free sugar, especially high fructose syrup, is the mastermind of raising hypertension.
On the one hand, excessive fructose intake will accelerate the heartbeat and constrict blood vessels. In addition, the excretion of water and sodium in the body will decrease, increasing the volume in blood vessels, and blood pressure will naturally increase.
On the other hand, sugar can also cause obesity, diabetes, hyperuricemia, hyperlipidemia and other diseases after entering the body, often inducing or aggravating hypertension and the occurrence and development of other cardiovascular diseases.
Therefore, hypertension patients should pay special attention to reducing sugar intake.
< < Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents > > suggest that the daily intake of free sugar should not exceed 50 g, and it is best to control it below 25 g.
An ordinary stainless steel spoon is 5g per flat spoon, and that 25g is about 5g.
Invisible Sugar in Food
Be also careful
Reducing sugar intake is not just a matter of not eating sugar and sweets.
Various free sugars, especially high fructose syrup, have been widely used in the food industry. They are hidden in various beverages, bread, biscuits, candy, ice cream, and also in various home-cooked dishes such as braised pork, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and cold dishes.
If hypertension patients have no control over such foods, it may not be easy to control blood pressure.
For processed foods, the sugar content of the food can usually be found in the nutritional composition table on the food packaging.
For example, a 500 ml bottle of Coke contains 52.5 grams of sugar, which is far beyond the recommended intake range.
Sugar Content in Common Foods
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Therefore, hypertension patients should form the habit of checking the food nutrition composition table.
Before eating, carefully read the item [carbohydrate content] on the food label, so that you can know the total amount of sugar you eat.
Lower blood pressure and do this until 2 o’clock.
1. At the same time of limiting sugar, don’t forget to limit salt.
Limiting the amount of edible salt to less than 6g per day (that is, the amount of ordinary beer bottle caps filled horizontally after the rubber pad is removed) will help reduce blood pressure.
At the same time, supplementing a certain amount of potassium and calcium can also promote the excretion of sodium in the body.
Therefore, in the selection of salt, low sodium salt with high potassium content and low sodium content can be selected.
2. Regular exercise can also help lower blood pressure
It is recommended to exercise for 30 minutes 5 ~ 7 times a week.
Walking, fast walking, jogging, swimming, Taijiquan and other events can be selected, according to one’s capabilities, step by step.
At the same time, don’t forget to quit smoking and drinking, maintain an optimistic character, reduce psychological burden and correct bad emotions.
On the way to control blood pressure, we should start from understanding the food we eat, control the intake of sugar and salt, plus healthy living habits, follow the guidance of doctors, so that blood pressure can drop safely and smoothly.
Responsible Editor: Homestead
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