High Salt Consumption Elevates Blood Pressure and Healthcare Costs

 

An applicant's overall general health has a direct bearing on their ability to find high quality health insurance online or from any source. As a nation, Americans are fat, out of shape, and sick. These facts, coupled with the high cost of healthcare in the U.S. makes insurers wary of risks in potential insurance clients who do not lead a healthy lifestyle.
Making the decision to clean up your health "act" is not just an issue of calorie counting, portion control, and getting up off the couch. The first and third leading causes of death in the U.S. are heart disease and stroke. Americans have access to clear, definitive information that link these conditions to their dietary choices. We eat a diet heavy in processed food filled with levels of added salt. Sodium consumption at these levels contributes to countless cases of hypertension that can and do morph into actual cardiovascular disease. Cut out the salt, cut out the problem.
Change Your Diet, Change Your Life
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have proven conclusively that when dietary salt levels are reduced, blood pressure begins to come down in the vast majority of people within days. Over weeks, and with appropriate maintenance, levels usually normalize completely.
The human body does require some amount of salt on a daily basis for normal functioning, but only about 180 to 500 mg. The average American, however, eats more than 3600 mg of salt a day. The American Heart Association recommends less than 1500 mg, which translates to about a teaspoon -- for the whole day.
A study conducted by the British Medical Journal concluded that if salt intake were to be lowered to acceptable levels in Great Britain, annual healthcare costs would drop by the equivalent of $24 billion. In the U.S., where 45 to 50 million Americans have no healthcare insurance whatsoever, simply eliminating high levels of salt from the daily diet should be one of the most important and cost effective personal decisions anyone could make.