Indians continue to eat more salt than WHO recommendation

Subject :Science and tech

Section: Health

Context:

The estimated mean daily salt intake in India stands at 8.0 g (8.9 g/day for men and 7.1 g/day for women) against the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation of up to 5 g daily.

Details:

Survey done by ICMR.
The study is based on a sample survey carried out as part of National NCD Monitoring Survey (NNMS) in India.
Key findings:
- The salt intake was significantly higher in men, those in rural areas and overweight and obese respondents.
- The perception of the harmful effects of high salt intake and practices to limit intake was low in the study population.
- Salt intake was higher in employed people (8.6 gm) and current tobacco users (8.3 gm) and those with high blood pressure (8.5 gm).
Recommendation:
- Reducing the intake is a beneficial and cost-saving way to reduce elevated blood pressure by 25% and advocates a 30% reduction in mean population salt intake by 2025.

Cardiovascular disease:

Cardiovascular diseases account for an estimated 28.1 % of total deaths in India.
In 2016, 1.63 million deaths were attributable to hypertension compared to 0.78 million deaths in 1990.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels. They include:
- coronary heart disease – a disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle;
- cerebrovascular disease – a disease of the blood vessels supplying the brain;
- peripheral arterial disease – a disease of blood vessels supplying the arms and legs;
- rheumatic heart disease – damage to the heart muscle and heart valves from rheumatic fever, caused by streptococcal bacteria;
- congenital heart disease – birth defects that affect the normal development and functioning of the heart caused by malformations of the heart structure from birth; and
- deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism – blood clots in the leg veins, which can dislodge and move to the heart and lungs.

Source: TH