By Godfred Aaneamenga Polkuu
Bolgatanga, May 27, GNA – Mr Innocent Braimah, a Principal Dietitian at the Upper East Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga, has expressed concern about high salt intake among members of the public.
According to him, a shift from healthy to unhealthy diets among some members of the public who relied more on fast foods with high salt concentration was a major issue of concern in hypertension.
“In fact, the recommendation is that we should take less than five grams of salt; and that is like a teaspoon a day, but on average, the intake is around 11grams, and that implies that we are taking more than double the recommended levels that will keep our risk of hypertension low,” he said.
Mr Braimah expressed the concern in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during a regional launch of the World Hypertension Day in Bolgatanga observed on the theme: “Hypertension is a silent killer, check your Blood Pressure (BP) regularly.”
World Hypertension Day is marked annually on May 17, to raise awareness of the disease as a major health issue.
Hypertension is diagnosed through the measurement of BP on two different days with the systolic BP readings on both days greater than or equal to 140 milimetres of mercury (mmHg) and the diastolic BP readings on both days also greater than or equal to 90 mmHg.
As part of the day’s activities, Mr Braimah led a team of professionals to check the BPs, random fasting blood sugar levels, body weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) of participants at the launch.
He said BP was a “silent killer” as people could record high BPs and still go about their daily activities without any apparent illness, and that the only way to know their BP level was to check.
He said hypertension was a common disease now, to both young and old. “In the past, we all thought that BP was for the aged, but pretty much younger people are even getting hypertension,” he stressed.
The Dietitian explained that the risk factors of hypertension were classified into modifiable and non-modifiable, “When it comes to the non-modifiable ones, it includes age. It is true that the older you get, the higher your risks of getting hypertension.
He said the modifiable were lifestyles including eating habits that could be changed, and mentioned alcohol abuse, low level physical activity as one major factor that could increase the risk of high BP, and further indicated that there may be other factors that may include the stress of work, smoking among others.
Mr Braimah further explained that hypertension is also about genetics such that “If you have a relative by blood who has hypertension, then you have an increased risk of hypertension as well.”
“It also includes our race. As a black race, studies have shown that we are at higher risk of hypertension, and that is something we cannot do anything about,” he said.
GNA
Edited by Fatima Anafu-Astanga/Kenneth Odeng Adade