Being born underweight may make one vulnerable to developing salt sensitivity, a condition characterised by increase in blood pressure on eating a high-salt diet. Studies in the past have shown that children born underweight experience a host of chronic health conditions including neurological impairments, cognitive troubles, poor eyesight and behavioural problems. To assess the effect of salt intake on blood pressure in children with low birth weight, researchers from Switzerland studied 50 children aged 11 years. Fifteen of them had normal birth weight and 35 were born either low-birth-weight (LBW) or small-for-gestational-age (SGA). The children were made to eat a controlled sodium diet for a week and then a high-sodium diet for the following week. The blood pressure of the participants was monitored daily after meals. It was found 40 percent of the LBW babies and 50 percent of the SBA babies had salt sensitivity i.e. their blood pressure increased by more than 3 mm Hg when they were on a high-salt diet. Even those who had no health problems as adults experienced an increase in their blood pressure when served a high-salt diet. Further, kidneys in LBW children tended to be shorter and had smaller volume compared to kidneys in normal birth weight children. The researchers noted that salt sensitivity could damage the kidneys, brain and heart. This calls for the need of following the LBW and SBA children for signs of reduced renal function and hypertension.
Hypertension
August 2008