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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | No consensus likely on global salt intake limit by Kounteya Sinha

No consensus likely on global salt intake limit by Kounteya Sinha

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published Published on Sep 19, 2011   modified Modified on Sep 19, 2011

Global efforts to set a target for daily salt consumption at 5 grams, in order to reduce deaths due to stroke, has faced a major setback.

The all important United Nations Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) Summit in New York, that kicks off on Monday, is unlikely to set a global target for reduction in salt consumption levels.

According to the NCD Alliance, a formal alliance of four international federations -- International Diabetes Federation, Union for International Cancer Control, World Heart Federation and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease -- representing the four main NCDs, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory disease, the European Union countries, Australia, Japan, US and Canada have refused to support the recommendation and requested its removal from the agenda.

Prof Graham MacGregor, chairman of World Action on Salt and Health (WASH), said, "This a major setback. We are shocked to hear that major western countries, which are already reducing salt intake in their own countries are trying to block salt reduction around the world."

India too hasn't set itself a target. According to cardiologist Dr K Srinath Reddy, who is part of India's official delegation to the summit, it is a World Health Organisation target of consuming 5 grams of salt a day. However, according to him, an average Indian consumes 9-10 grams of salt a day.

Speaking to TOI from New York, Dr Reddy said, "India does not have an official target for reduction in salt consumption. However the National Institute of Nutrition follows the WHO recommendation of 5 gm salt consumption a day."

Salt is known to cause high blood pressure or hypertension that is responsible for 57% of deaths due to stroke and 24% of deaths caused by heart attack in India. Sodium makes blood vessels less able to expand and contract and may toughen heart cells.

Dr Sushum Sharma, director of preventive health programme of Max healthcare, said, "An average Indian requires 6 grams of salt per day. On an average, we consume 9 grams. Just by reducing salt consumption, India can reduce incidents of stroke by 25% and heart attacks by 10%."

Dr Reddy added, "Tobacco and high blood pressure are the primary risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. BP is the main risk factor for stroke. The sodium potassium ratio in our body is important for stroke mortality. We gain potassium through the fruits and vegetables we consume. So for populations like Indians, which consume low potassium and high salt, risk for stroke is higher. Most of the scientific community wishes the summit took a stronger position on salt consumption levels."

South Africa, on the eve of the summit, however, has set targets to radically reduce NCDs including a target to reduce salt intake to less than 5 g/day per person by 2020.

A recent study had said the US diet was high in salt, with the majority coming from processed foods. Reducing dietary salt intake to 3 grams per day (1,200 mg of sodium per day) could reduce the annual number of heart disease by 60,000, stroke by 32,000 and myocardial infarction by 54,000. It could also reduce annual number of deaths by any cause by 44,000.

"Modest reductions in dietary salt could substantially reduce cardiovascular events and medical costs and should be a public health target," another expert said.

Recently, in the first-ever comprehensive and longest investigation ever undertaken to study the effects of salt on cardiovascular health, researchers from the Harvard Medical School offered concrete evidence that a diet rich on sodium increased risk of heart attack.

The 15-year study found that sticking to a diet low on salt reduced risk of cardiac arrest and stroke by 25% and chances of premature death by 20%.

The Times of India, 19 September, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/No-consensus-likely-on-global-salt-intake-limit/articleshow/10034695.cms


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