Salty diet raises blood pressure among town dwellers

A leading cardiologist has largely blamed the growing problem of high blood pressure amongst town dwellers in Burkina Faso on a diet that has too much salt in it.

Jean Paul Kabore, one of only seven heart specialists in Burkina Faso, told a meeting of West African cardiologists in the capital Ouagadougou on Thursday that 15 to 20 percent of the urban population suffered from medical problems related to high blood pressure. In Ouagadougou alone between 150,000 and 250,000 people were affected, he added.

Kabore said too much salt in the diet - much of it incorporated unintentionally through the addition of stock cubes to stews and soups - was the main reason for the rise in medical problems associated with high blood pressure.

The heart specialist said many patients failed to realise that once they had high blood pressure they would have to receive long term medical treatment to control it.

"A lot of people are unaware that they are ill and are only informed of the fact when they visit a doctor for other reasons," Kabore said. "Still, the problem is that they do not accept that they will have to treat themselves for the rest of their lives."