Salt and Blood Pressure in Cameroon
Association of urinary sodium excretion with blood pressure and risk factors associated with hypertension among Cameroonian pygmies and bantus: a cross-sectional study
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Pygmies have almost no high blood pressure (3.3%) despite limited healthcare access.
Most assume poor healthcare access leads to worse health outcomes, but here, a traditional lifestyle appears to protect against a major modern disease.
Practical Takeaways
Reduce processed foods to lower your salt intake and protect your heart.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Pygmies have almost no high blood pressure (3.3%) despite limited healthcare access.
Most assume poor healthcare access leads to worse health outcomes, but here, a traditional lifestyle appears to protect against a major modern disease.
Practical Takeaways
Reduce processed foods to lower your salt intake and protect your heart.
Publication
Journal
BMC Cardiovascular Disorders
Year
2018
Authors
D. Lemogoum, W. Ngatchou, Claude Bika Lele, C. Okalla, M. Leeman, J. Degaute, P. van de Borne
Related Content
Claims (5)
In adults from Cameroon, the more salt they have in their urine, the more likely they are to have high blood pressure — every little bit of extra salt is tied to a slightly higher chance of high blood pressure, even after considering age, weight, and belly size.
City-living Bantu adults in Cameroon are way more likely to have high blood pressure than Pygmy people in the countryside — 28% vs just 3.3% — suggesting that city life might be raising their risk.
In city-dwelling Bantu adults in Cameroon, higher blood pressure tends to go hand-in-hand with more salt coming out in their urine — and this link still holds true even when accounting for age, weight, and belly size.
People from a traditional hunter-gatherer group in Cameroon don’t see their blood pressure go up as much with age compared to city-dwelling adults from another group, suggesting that living a traditional lifestyle might help keep blood pressure in check as people get older.
City-dwelling adults in Cameroon are excreting way more salt in their urine than people living in the forest who hunt and gather food — more than double — which probably means they're eating a lot more salt in their diets.