It is well known that it is well known that it is necessary to pay attention to drugs in old age. It is always best to talk to your doctor to find out what to do. But sometimes we forget that it is also important to understand how the same active substance in the therapeutic sense can be associated with compounds that, if on the one hand they facilitate its intake, on the other hand they can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems, such as for example it can be done with effervescent tablets that contain sodium. It is therefore necessary, in agreement with the doctor, to consider this aspect too, especially if you suffer from hypertension, since there is the possibility of taking the same active ingredient under other guises. Otherwise there is a risk of consuming excessive amounts of sodium, unless it is eliminated from the table, with consequent repercussions on blood pressure and on the health of arteries and kidneys. To point out this aspect is an observational research published in European Heart Journalcoordinated by Chao Zengdell’Central South University di Changsha, which takes into account nearly 300,000 people being treated by British general practitioners who have taken paracetamol on prescription and not self-medicated (therefore necessarily for limited periods) in different formulations.
The risk of exceeding the threshold
Attention has focused on formulations containing sodium, necessary for effervescent or soluble tablets: this natural component of table salt (sodium chloride) should be taken in minimal quantities without exceeding 2 grams per day according to WHO guidelines. But if you take paracetamol in sodium-containing formulations every six hours, every day you risk exceeding this threshold only with drugs, and this amount of sodium thus adds to what you take with food. In the long run, the effects are not exactly positive. The study, which focuses on the role of this salt to signal the need not to exaggerate or in any case to choose other ways of taking the active ingredient, reports that the risk of heart attack, stroke or heart failure after one year for patients with high blood pressure who took sodium-containing acetaminophen was 5.6%, while it was 4.6% among those taking non-sodium-containing acetaminophen. The risk of death also follows this trajectory: at one year it was 7.6% and 6.1% respectively. If for hypertensive people “reading the warnings carefully” is important, for those without high blood pressure the trend is confirmed. Among those who took the sodium-containing antipyretic formulations, the risk of cardiovascular problems was 4.4%, higher than the 3.7% observed in those who took the same drug but without sodium.
Heart door
Blood pressure is checked (also) at the table
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For the sake of completeness, it must be said that it is an observational study, therefore it does not explain any cause-effect relationship but is limited to photographing a situation. Furthermore, data relating to an estimate of the participants’ daily salt intake, nor to the elimination of sodium by the kidneys, were not considered. However, this is an observation that must teach everyone to follow the doctor’s instructions when taking treatments that can, if continued for prolonged times, affect the blood pressure values of hypertensive subjects. “The study confirms an excess risk directly associated with sodium intake, both in hypertensive people and also in those who do not have high blood pressure: it warns us once more about the attention that everyone, doctors and ordinary people, must pay to this. element – explains Gianfranco Parati, Scientific Director of the Auxological Institute of Milan and lecturer at the Milan-Bicocca University. We must always remember that sodium can also be present in effervescent and soluble preparations of drugs that we consume widely. For this, as advised in an editorial accompanying the publication of the study on the European Heart Journal, I think the quantity of sodium contained in the preparation should also be indicated in the accompanying sheets of the drugs, so that doctors and people can choose the same active ingredient in another formulation where available. We never forget that every day we should not exceed a teaspoon of salt, between what we add and what is already in food. Unfortunately, table salt, or sodium chloride, is an enemy of the arteries and increases the risk of hypertension. Only with knowledge and good habits, aimed at avoiding the intake of “hidden” sodium as in this case, can we counteract this enemy which, if in excess over time, increases the risk of heart attack and stroke “.
Heart door
Pressure to the limits? Here’s what to do
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