Salt restriction in hypertension

Salt has had a long and controversial history. It is not known when man began to use salt in his diet, but it is logical to believe that salt has always been a part of human diet though we do not have scientific proof for this. Restriction of salt in hypertensive patients has been a popular measure adopted world wide. This paper examines the usefulness of salt restrictions and the effect it would cause. Most cases of hypertension are symptomless--using a therapy which drastically affects a patients food habits is a poor strategy to ensure compliance. We conclude that salt restriction is not very useful and probably harmful in some patients. Additionally it reduces the quality of life.