Can Too Much Sodium Be Affecting Your Pain Management

During National Nutrition Month, salt has been quite the topic, and for good reason. Salt, and sugar for that matter, has been saturating our American diets for far too long, and things are only getting worse. So, how does an excess of sodium affect your pain management? Not in any good ways, we can tell you that.



Recently, everyone from your local nutritionist all the way to congress and the White House has been looking for ways to control the amount of salt (aka sodium) that the average American consumes.



As U.S. legislators look for ways to reduce the nation's health-care costs, they may soon tackle America's salt problem. Cutting Americans' salt intake by even 10% would probably prevent hundreds of thousands of strokes and heart attacks -- the first and third leading causes of death in the U.S., respectively -- and save the government tens of billions of dollars, U.S. researchers wrote in the March 2 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. – DailyFinance.com



Too much salt drives up a person’s blood pressure, which, in turn, can adversely affect your pain management treatment. The problem that we are facing is that the amount of sodium in our diets is not entirely within our hands. According to recent research, 90% of our daily salt intake is due to the canned and packaged foods we eat every day. Foods like cereal, soups, breads and frozen dinners contribute to our daily sodium intake in awfully huge ways.



Last month, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that reducing the average American's salt intake by just 3 grams a day -- half a teaspoon -- would save 92,000 lives a year and $24 billion in health care costs. And last week, the Institute of Medicine declared high blood pressure a "neglected disease" that costs the U.S. health system $73.4 billion a year. – DailyFinance.com



According to WebMD, 70% of Americans are eating 2.3 times more sodium per day than they are supposed to be. For people dealing with high blood pressure, those over 40, and African-Americans, this is extremely detrimental not only to overall health, but pain management treatments.



How can you avoid eating too much sodium and maintaining a healthy diet to assist in pain management treatment? First off, avoid frozen foods. Do not eat those TV dinners, even if they say ‘healthy’ or ‘low sodium.’ These are your first enemies. Second, try go organic if you can. Third, consult your physician or nutritionist for examples on how you can lower your sodium intake.



Lastly, talk to your pain consultant at The Pain Centers of Arizona to be sure you are eating the right foods to maintain your healthy diet and assist in your pain management treatment.