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Salt (Sodium), High Blood Pressure, The 300/3000 Rule, And “Walking On Clouds”

She was a very intelligent and straightforward 50-year old African-American legal secretary formerly from California whose mother and grandmother live here in Hartford. At 5'7", 207 pounds, her blood pressure was 180/104 when she first was seen. I made clear to her how her personal choices were affecting her blood pressure, risk of stroke/dialysis/ sudden death/heart attack, etc. horrors. She agreed to change. She returned for follow-up in one month 14 pounds lighter, with an improved BP but still high at 144/104, but she now felt like she was “walking on clouds.”

She had begun to read sodium/salt on labels. Today I taught her the 300 (9% or less)/3000 Rule.

• I showed her 5 cans that sit on my desk, all the same size, your typical 15 ounce can.
• Some of the manufacturers claimed there were 3 servings in a can, others 2 servings in a can, but in truth, all these cans were one serving per can.
• The sodium content was legibly listed at 440 mg per serving on the first can of 3 servings, 15 mg sodium per serving on the second can of 3 servings, 115 mg per serving on the 3rd can of 2 servings, 250 mg per serving on the 4th can of 2 servings, and 135 mg of sodium per serving on the 5th can of 2 servings.
• The rule is: not more than 300 mg of sodium, that is, 9% or less on the label, in the serving that you eat! It has nothing to do with how many servings the manufacturer says are in the can or the package; it has to do with the number of servings you are going to eat.
• Said again, you should eat no food that has more than 300 mg of sodium in the serving that you are going to eat. This will be 9% or less of “Daily Values” for sodium intake, and the total sodium intake should be less than 3000 mg per day.
• Don’t forget to calculate the salt (sodium) content of that occasional cookie or candy, or whatever else you eat.

Sodium causes high blood pressure!!! Japanese have the highest salt/sodium intake in the world, and they also have the highest incidence of stroke and Alzheimer’s disease due to their high blood pressure. There are cultures that have less than 500 mg of sodium intake per day, and these cultures have no hypertension (high blood pressure)!

To recap: It has nothing to do with how much sodium there is per serving, it has to do with how much sodium you are going to eat!

• So, in the first can there was 1320 mg of sodium total, and a person would (un)reasonably eat that whole can. Way too high!
• On the other hand, another can contained 15 mg of sodium per serving with 3 servings listed per can, which is only 45 mg of sodium for the whole can - very low sodium.
• One can of soup had 115 mg of sodium per serving, with 2 servings per can, and that would be fine as it falls below the 300 rule (per serving that you eat). But the next can from the same manufacturer had 250 mg per serving, 2 servings per can which is 500 mg per can, and that is too high.
• Most commercial canned foods have way too much sodium/salt in them, and even many health food soups/canned foods have too much sodium.
• That is why I prefer fresh (best) vegetables and beans, or frozen (most convenient), flavored with a canned soup that is low in sodium - less than 300 mg of sodium in the whole can.
• Despite frozen foods being lower in sodium, you still must read the sodium content per serving and then count (multiply) the number of servings that you will eat!

If this is unclear to you, call me.

These published in 2007!
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