Episode #94 - Are you consuming too much salt?

VGS   We are talking about salt in our diet today. What happens when we consume too much salt and how can we reduce it in our diet and why should we do that?

Hello and welcome to Science in 5. I am Vismita Gupta-Smith. We are talking to Dr Francesco Branca, today. Welcome Francesco. Francesco, WHO latest report is urging everyone to reduce salt in our diet.
Please explain to us what happens when we consume too much salt.

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

Too much salt is the most important dietary risk factor for the global burden of disease. We have one adult in four that has a high blood pressure and we have 2 million people dying every year as a result of consuming too much salt.

VGS   Francesco, how do we know if we are consuming too much salt?

FB   Most of us are consuming too much salt. The WHO recommends to consume not more than 5 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.

In many high income countries, the largest amount of salt comes from manufactured food. About 80% 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. Just to give you an example, if you take an average bag of chips of 150 grams, only that bag of chips contains half of the salt we're supposed to consume every day. In low income countries, sodium or salt comes mainly from what is added during the home preparation and during the preparation of preserves. And, you know, it comes from condiments or other sources that are added to the food.

VGS   Francesco, let's talk about how we can reduce our salt intake.

FB   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, you know, lemon juice, spices. We can also decide to buy less of the food that contains a high amount of salt i.e. of processed food. We can buy less frequently certain options. We can also buy alternatives. The same product sometimes is designed to contain less salt. And 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. And fruit and vegetable not only contains less salt, but they contain another important mineral - potassium, which is protective for our arteries and actually protects us from increased blood pressure.

But then it's not just our responsibility, but it's what we see in the food environment we live. And 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.

So there could be really an overall collaboration between individual consumers and public health authorities to help us reduce the risk of high blood pressure by reducing salt intake.

VGS   Thank you, Francesco. That was Science in 5 today. Until next time then, stay safe, stay healthy and stick with science.