Pulmonary hypertension is a condition of increased pressure in the blood vessels of the lungs. Because of this increased pressure, the heart has more difficulty with effectively pumping blood throughout the body, which can lead to symptoms of shortness of breath and leg swelling. While there are a number of effective medications to reduce the pressure in the blood vessels of the lungs, limiting salt intake is an important measure to help alleviate this pressure and reduce symptoms.

Sodium, a component of salt, helps regulate the fluid balance in your body. With increased sodium intake, there will be an accumulation of fluid in the body. This accumulation of fluid can increase the amount of volume the heart has to pump, which can strain the heart and worsen the symptoms of pulmonary hypertension.

Ways to reduce salt intake include reading the labels of prepared foods to look for low-salt versions and breaking the habit of salting your food, particularly during cooking. Some salty foods to avoid include pickles, canned soups, prepared meat products such as hot dogs and sausages and salty snacks such as potato chips and pretzels. While many are concerned that decreasing salt use will result in eating bland food, your taste for salt will decrease over time and if this decrease in salt intake is done gradually, you will hardly notice the reduction.

***

Hooman Poor, MD, is Assistant Professor, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Division, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.