Khaberni - When people think about the causes of high blood pressure, their minds immediately go to known lifestyle factors: salty foods, lack of movement, and smoking, but there is an unexpected source that might be raising blood pressure in millions of people in complete silence, which is the water they drink.
Rising sea levels lead to the infiltration of saltwater into fresh water sources, posing an unexpected health challenge to coastal area residents, directly affecting their blood pressure levels.
Drinking water as a risk factor
A comprehensive analysis conducted by an international research team led by Professor Rajiv Chowdhury linked increased water salinity and a higher risk of high blood pressure by up to 26%.
The study included data from over 74,000 participants from diverse countries such as the United States, Australia, Bangladesh, and Vietnam, and showed that people consuming saltier water suffer from higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure rates than their peers.
The danger lies in that this environmental effect is equivalent in strength to the risks of lack of movement and physical activity, which increase the likelihood of high blood pressure by 15% to 25%, according to "sciencealert".
The residents of coastal communities, which number more than 3 billion people globally, consume large amounts of sodium unconsciously, due to their reliance on groundwater, which may not taste salty when drinking or cooking, but their bodies continuously and silently register this rise.
A gap in the World Health Organization's guidelines
Researchers have observed a notable gap in the current World Health Organization's guidelines, as they found that it does not include any specific health standard for sodium levels in drinking water, increasing the need for more stringent scientific evidence.
Moreover, scientists’ knowledge remains limited regarding the long-term effects of drinking salty water on chronic cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes.
On the practical precautionary side, while food remains the primary source of sodium for most people, when the salinity of water rises, an additional burden is added to the total daily sodium consumption.
It is worth noting that consulting local water quality reports - when available - alongside paying attention to dietary sodium levels, may contribute to better blood pressure management.
