High Blood Pressure and the Salt Intake of the Japanese

Abstract

The author made the epidemiological studies for the explanation of the presence of various characteristics in the mortality from cerebral apoplexy in Japan. For the explication of the nation-wide regional difference in the mortality from cerebral apoplexy and in the blood pressure levels of the inhabitants, the author believes the quantity of salt intake is the most influential factor. In Japan the basic form of a meal is to eat rice with miso soup and pickles with additional use of soy-sauce as a seasoning, resulting in a large amount of salt intake. The investigations were also made on the relation with potassium, a factor to give influences to the relation between high blood pressure and the salt intake. The fact that the mortality from apoplexy and the blood pressure were comparatively low in the apple producing regions in Japan suggesting that eating apples containing abundent potassium may have something to do with this phenomenon. © 1962, International Heart Journal Association. All rights reserved.