Consumption of herby cheese and salted fish increases the risk of hypertension

Van Training and Research Hospital Chief Physician Cardiology Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Remzi Sarıkaya warned that the people of the region should change their eating habits and pointed out that especially consumption of herbed cheese and salty fish increases the risk of hypertension.

Hypertension has become one of the biggest problems threatening public health in Van and neighboring provinces. Cardiology Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Remzi Sarıkaya, who shared on his social media account, emphasized that some local food products trigger high blood pressure. Pointing out that herbed cheese and salted fish are among these products, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sarıkaya said that the high salt content in herbed cheese, one of the most popular foods of the region, increases the risk of hypertension. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sarıkaya stated that the salt ratio should be standardized during the production phase of herbed cheese and that soaking the cheese in water before consuming it can be an effective solution to reduce the salt ratio.

“We need to change our eating habits”

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sarıkaya said that high blood pressure is very common in the region. Stating that the blood pressure of blood pressure patients is generally high due to poor drug compliance in addition to excessive salty consumption habits, Sarıkaya said, “As a result, we see enlargement of the heart, kidney failure, heart failure, heart attack more frequently due to high blood pressure. The most important reasons are excessive consumption of salty cheese, salty fish and meat products. We need to change our eating habits. While producing herbed cheese, standardization should be ensured for the salt ratio; while consuming it, we can keep it in water beforehand to reduce the salt ratio.”

“Salty consumption of Van fish is a serious problem”

Pointing out that salty fish consumption is dangerous, Sarıkaya continued his words as follows:

“Van fish should be consumed fresh or canned pearl mullet, which is one of the most important achievements of the last period, can be consumed. While cooking, the addition of salt to the food should be very limited; this also applies to restaurants. We should remove the salt shaker from the table. Our daily salt requirement is about one teaspoon; we already take this with the food we consume. Excess is harmful and irreversible and fatal.”