Salt Intake

I went to a doctors appointment yesterday, he said my blood pressure was abnormally high.
He stated that my blood pressure has never been this high.( i wasn't informed of what it was)
he said that my blood pressure could have been high because of my caffine intake and because I
of possibly taking tylonel sore throat before my appointment. Im due back in 30 days for a check up,
on my blood pressure.I am 22 yrs old, I am wondering how much sodium  should I be intaking on a
daily basis? Is there a formula that i can follow to figure out my answer?

[Renee Radenberg]

It is recommended to consume 4-3gm (4000-3000mg) of sodium a day. Americans normally consume from 8-10gms a day which is very high. If you avoid adding additional salt to your food at meals that would help you cut 1/2 to 1/3 of your sodium content a day. Add additional spices such as pepper, garlic (not garlic salt), lemon, and onion to name a few. Sodium content is high in all our convenience and prepackaged foods, cold cuts, smoked meats (smoked ham, bacon, etc), canned foods (soups, stews, vegetables, etc), and cheeses. There are products out there that are made low sodium, so you need to read the food labels. You are young and need to follow your MD when it comes to your blood pressure. Untreated blood pressure can lead to stroke or heart attack and people can have them at any age! The problem with high blood pressure is that people go on medication/diet, feel great, stop their medication/diet and continue to feel ok until one day they have a stroke or a heart attack. That is why it is called the Silent Killer. Hope this helped you. Best of luck to you.

[Renee Radenberg]

Sorry, I forgot to add, loss of weight would help lower blood pressure too. From the weight you stated you are about 30lbs overweight, however, you maybe muscular which would increase your weight. If you are not, then if you loss > 5lbs or more your blood pressure would decrease too.