Can Certain Foods Affect Your Varicose Veins?
Good nutrition is essential for maintaining your overall health and can also treat or prevent many kinds of health conditions. However, unhealthy foods can cause many illnesses and conditions, including varicose veins. If you have varicose veins and want to prevent them from worsening, changing your diet can help. It may even prevent varicose veins from forming. Here at Alpha Vein Clinic, we specialize in providing vein treatment services to varicose vein sufferers in Las Vegas and can help you determine what lifestyle and dietary changes can alleviate any pain caused by your varicose veins and possibly prevent new ones from forming.
Causes of Varicose Veins
To understand how food affects the development and progression of varicose veins, it’s necessary to understand how varicose veins form in the first place. They typically develop as a result of poor circulation. This means that foods that boost circulation can prevent varicose veins or reduce their appearance or the discomfort associated with them.
The Impact of Salt on Varicose Veins
Salt causes the body to retain water, which in turn causes more blood to circulate through the body. The increased blood volume places pressure on the veins and can lead to the formation of varicose veins or the worsening of existing ones. Specific foods high in salt or an overall diet that’s high in salt can cause this effect, so it’s important to limit your salt intake.
The Impact of Potassium on Varicose Veins
Potassium also has an effect on water retention, but in this case it’s not enough as opposed to too much. Potassium is actually good for the body, because it causes cells to expel water, thereby protecting against water retention. If you don’t get enough potassium you’ll likely retain water, so be sure to include foods rich in potassium to guard against varicose veins and other health problems.
Avoid Sugar
Like salt, sugar can cause fluid retention. This is because too much sugar causes your body to release insulin, which interferes with the release of sodium from the body. As with consuming too much salt, this causes the body to retain water.
Final Notes
While a healthy diet is beneficial for your overall health, food has very little impact on the formation of varicose veins. Instead, genetics plays a large role. Varicose veins can also form as a result of trauma or accident, because of the resulting damage to valves in the veins.
You don’t have to live with the discomfort or the appearance of varicose veins. Instead, let the caring staff at Alpha Vein Clinic treat your varicose veins so you can feel and look better.