High Blood Pressure: Sugar, Not Salt No. 1 Risk Factor

For years now, we've been told that in order to avoid high blood pressure we need to avoid salt. But now it appears it is sugar consumption, not salt, that is the greater concern.

According to a study published in the journal, Open Heart, scientists discovered high amounts of sugar, not salt, puts us at greater risk of developing high blood pressure. High blood pressure is also called hypertension.

This information is critically important because high blood pressure is the No. 1 risk factor for the leading killer of men and women in America: heart disease.

One easy way to stop eating sugar is to stop eating processed foods, including fast food. In other words, switch to whole foods, prepared at home.

Most people cringe at the idea of cooking the food they eat because of the time involved. However, when it comes to your health, it's well worth the effort. Furthermore, there are many items that don't take very long to prepare, such as eggs or salad.

Food manufacturers add astronomical amounts of sugar to their products. This is often in the form of high fructose corn syrup, which is arguably worse than table sugar because some experts say high fructose corn syrup disables the body's ability to feel fullness, even having the opposite effect as an addictive element. So the more we eat, the more we want.

Processed foods that contain obscene amounts of sugar aren't just found in the soda or cookie aisle. They are everywhere. Sugar, usually in the form of high fructose corn syrup, is added to yogurt, bread, pasta sauce, soup, salad dressings, and so on -- many foods that we don't even consider sweet and may even mistakenly consider healthy

As a general rule, if it's in a package, a staggering amount of sugar has probably been added to it. Therefore, avoid food in packages. However, if you are tempted to purchase processed food, at least check the list of ingredients. Look not only for high fructose corn syrup, but also any of its approximately 40 cousins.

Yes, there are dozens of types of sugars that food manufacturers don't want you to recognize on their labels. Most ingredients that end in "ose" such as dextrose and maltrose, are sugars.

Also when you see the word "syrup," it's usually a sugar. If you see sugar of any type, especially in the first three ingredients, put it back on the shelf. (Food manufacturers have to list their ingredients in the order of what the items contains the most of. For instance, if the first ingredient is high fructose corn syrup, that means the item contains more high fructose corn syrup than anything else.)

In addition to outright sugars, we must remember that refined carbohydrates are also considered sugars because they turn into sugar as soon as we eat them. Refined carbohydrates are processed starches, the most common being white flour, which is usually called "enriched" flour.

Refined carbohydrates are considered sugars because they have the exact same effect on your body as sugars do, the moment you eat them.

Now that we know sugar is the main risk factor for high blood pressure, that does not give us license to pile on the salt. Doctors say we should avoid both salt and sugar in large doses.

Interestingly, it's not the salt shaker and the sugar bowl at home that we need to steer clear of. When we prepare food at home we generally use a small fraction of salt and sugar compared to the insane amounts we find in processed foods.

So again, the rule of thumb is: avoid processed foods and you'll drastically reduce your intake of salt and sugar.

One more thing about high blood pressure: denouncing processed foods is the major battle. But exercise is also crucial to achieving healthy blood pressure numbers. Start by simply walking 30 minutes a day and go from there. That little bit of discipline will pay dividends when it comes to your heart health.