Too much salt is a health risk
Author: admin
Medical experts around the world are calling on the public to avoid consuming too much sodium sulfate or salt since doing so could be disastrous to your health.
According to a recent medical study, those who love to partake salt usually suffer from high blood pressure, vascular and cardiac damage, stomach cancer, osteoporosis and other diseases.
The study also revealed that higher blood pressure is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
Based on the latest statistics, worldwide, approximately 1 billion adults have hypertension.
It is said that about 17 to 30 percent of these cases are caused by excessive sodium consumption.
Researchers discovered that almost 80 percent of sodium intake is from processed food in developed countries.
The experts revealed the most effective change will result from regulation of the food industry by government.
However, researcher said there is a need for immediate voluntary action.
Partaking too much salt is dangerous to health.
In Canada alone, the recommended intake is 1,000 mg/day sodium for people aged 1 to 3 years and 1,500 mg/day for those aged 9 to 50 years.
Dr. Kevin Willis, from the Canadian Stroke Network explained a population-wide reduction in sodium intake could prevent a large proportion of cardiovascular events in both
normotensive and hypertensive populations.
He added a population-wide decrease of 2 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure would be estimated to lower the prevalence of hypertension by 17%, coronary artery disease by 6% and the risk of stroke by 15%, with many of the benefits occurring among patients with normal blood pressure.
Moreover, the experts hoped that the national public health policy should focus on:
• Reformulating processed food
• Educating consumers
• Labeling food clearly
• Setting timelines to meet these targets
They said nongovernmental groups should also lobby the food industry to change practice.
They added these groups should work in partnership with governments to initiate public education campaigns.
The experts said health care professionals should give extra attention in guiding patients about healthy choices in reducing sodium consumption.
They said training in giving those directions should be included into curricula.