Salt's effects on your body
Salt works on your kidneys to make your body hold on to more water.
This extra stored water raises your blood pressure and puts strain on your kidneys, arteries, heart and brain.
The raised blood pressure caused by eating too much salt may damage the arteries leading to the heart.
At first, it may cause a slight reduction in the amount of blood reaching the heart. This may lead to angina (sharp pains in the chest when being active).
With this condition the cells in the heart don't work as well as they should because they are not receiving enough oxygen and nutrients. However, lowering blood pressure may help to alleviate some of the problems and reduce the risk of greater damage.
If�you�continue to eat too much salt then, over�time, the damage caused by the extra blood pressure may become so severe that the arteries burst or become completely clogged.
If this happens, then the part of the heart that was receiving the blood no longer gets the oxygen and nutrients it needs and dies. The result is a heart attack.
The best way to prevent a heart attack is to stop the arteries becoming damaged. And one of the best ways of doing this is keep your blood pressure down by eating less salt.
