Could salt cause hypertension?

Yes: Yes, it's fuel for the fire.

Dr Cheng and another doctor agreed

Water retention: Specifically, salt causes your body to retain water. This "extra" water occupies space and makes it more difficult for the blood to move through the body. When this occurs, higher pressure from the heart is needed to move the blood through the body.

Heightened risk of: ...cardiovascular disease, but slashing salt isn't easy. Salt can be found commercially in many foods, even some you wouldn't expect--like bread, bagels, chicken (salt improves shelf-life), cereal. Seriously, read labels.

Salt and BP.: Salt alone will not give you hypertension if you wouldn't have developed it anyway. However, people with high BP will notice higher numbers after ingesting salt.

Salt and HTN: most likely cause of HTN today. Best way to prevent or treat salt HTN is to move to the DASH eating plan. Get this book only ISBN: 0-7434-1007-6 eISBN-13: 978-1-43914-059-8 Start Chap 9 and expect BP to be better in a week if you Do Chap 9 EXACTLY. If if does not go down get back with me.

Variable: The kidneys control salt in the blood. If there is too much, the kidneys pass it into urine. But when salt intake levels are high, the kidneys cannot keep up and salt ends up in the blood. Salt attracts water. Salt draws more water into the blood. More water increases the volume of blood which raises blood pressure.

Dr Brown agreed