2 million people die yearly from excessive salt intake-WHO

Adeze Ojukwu

World Health Organization(WHO) has, again, raised alarm over health risks posed by excessive consumption of salt, saying “two million people die every year, as a result of taking too much salt.”

“Consuming too much salt is leading to increased blood pressure and to increased risk of death for heart disease and stroke.”

An expert with WHO, Dr Francesco Branca stated this in the WHO report published on March 10.

The agency urged “everyone to reduce salt in diet. Too much salt is the most important dietary risk factor for the global burden of disease. One out of every four adults has a high blood pressure and two million people die, every year, as a result of consuming too much salt.”

“Most of us are consuming too much salt. WHO recommends that individuals should consume not more than five grams of salt every day, which is roughly half of what on average people consume in the world. You can get salt from what you add to foods at home, or you can get salt from the manufacture of products,” she explained.

“In many high income countries, the largest amount of salt comes from manufactured food. About 80 percent comes from manufactured food, such as bread, cheeses, preserved meat, but also high salt snacks, and food consumed out of home. Normally the same preparation that we consume at home has less salt than the one that is produced in a restaurant, for example.”

According to her, one bag of chips of 150 grams, contains half of salt recommendation for a day. Also sodium comes mainly from what is added during cooking, food preservation and other condiments.

Excerpts of the report are below:

“You can progressively reduce salt in your diet and adjust your taste. It will take a few weeks, but eventually you will be able to reduce your salt intake. Remember that we need to do that by one third to one half of our current intake. Some of it is under our control and we can add less salt during cooking. We can replace it with other seasoning, such as lemon juice and other spices.”

“We can also decide to buy less of the food that contains a high amount of salt, such as processed food. We can buy less frequently certain options. We can also buy alternatives. The same product sometimes is designed to contain less salt. If you look at the labels, it's actually explicitly mentioned that it could be a low salt product.

“We can also altogether replace certain options with healthier ones. So if you reduce the consumption of salty snacks, you can instead consume fruit and or vegetable as a snack. Fruit and vegetable not only contain less salt, but they contain another important mineral called potassium. It protects the arteries and helps in reducing blood pressure.

“It is not just our responsibility, but it id what we see in the food environment we live. Governments can nudge companies to put on the market products with less salt, but they can also offer meals in public institutions such as schools that contain less salt.

“Consumers and public health authorities need to collaborate for effective reduction of risk of high blood pressure by reducing salt intake.”

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Wow, this is really an eye opener