JAKARTA - For years, salt has often been positioned as a component that must be avoided in the diet. Various healthy lifestyle trends and medical recommendations often emphasize the importance of limiting salt intake to maintain health.
However, according to a specialist in heart and heart transplant, Dr. Dmitry Yaranov, this assumption is not entirely true. He stressed that salt is not always harmful, but can be a serious problem for individuals with certain health conditions. Therefore, it is important to know who really needs to limit sodium consumption.
He said that in certain bodies, salt is not just a flavor enhancer, but can be a trigger for the worsening of the disease.
In people with heart failure, for example, excessive sodium intake can cause fluid buildup in the body. This condition exacerbates the symptoms of heart failure, increases the risk of repeated hospitalization, and in the long term is associated with a decrease in life expectancy.
The next group is patients with resistant hypertension, that is, high blood pressure that can only be controlled with three to four types of drugs. In this condition, salt consumption can aggravate blood pressure and inhibit the effectiveness of treatment. According to Yaranov, for patients like this, salt is not a neutral substance, but a factor that worsens the condition.
Patients with chronic kidney disease are also advised to reduce salt intake. Sodium can accelerate the decline in kidney function and make it difficult for the body to regulate fluid balance, so that the condition of the kidneys gets worse.
In addition, excess salt can aggravate portal hypertension, which is high blood pressure in the portal vein due to liver cirrhosis. This condition is often accompanied by ascites or fluid accumulation in the abdominal cavity, which can be further aggravated by fluid retention from excessive sodium consumption.
Another vulnerable group is the elderly with already stiff blood vessels. As people age, artery elasticity decreases so that the body's ability to manage sodium becomes more limited. As a result, excess salt is more likely to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease than when you are younger.
However, Yaranov emphasized that in individuals with normal health conditions, sodium has an important role for the body. Sodium is needed for the transmission of nerve signals, muscle contraction, maintaining fluid balance, and helping regulate blood pressure.
He emphasized that what needs to be considered is not just avoiding salt, but understanding the condition of each body in responding to sodium.
According to him, salt is not the enemy of everyone. Sodium is an essential element for life, and what often becomes a problem is health recommendations that are too simplistic without considering individual conditions.
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