ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with documentation that supports the fundamental assertion that the sodium ion is inextricably interwoven into the mosaic of hypertension clinically, pathophysiologically, and therapeutically. Sodium and hypertension have been related on a number of levels. One strong point made by several investigators is that the lack of hypertension in primitive societies may be due to a lack of dietary sodium intake. Nevertheless, a laboratory distinction between essential and secondary hypertension and normotensive subjects with and without a family history of hypertension has been demonstrated in one study by measuring erythrocyte cation flux. The highest blood pressure values and greatest prevalence of hypertension were found in a group that traditionally boiled their vegetables in sea water and consequently had the highest sodium intake. The pathogenesis and mechanism of these sodium and chemically induced forms of hypertension have been reviewed recently. No studies of this nature have yet been reported in man with borderline or established hypertension.
