Meeting WHO’s sodium recommendations could avert deaths from heart, kidney disease: Study


PTI, Oct 31, 2024, 11:07 AM IST

Complying with the WHO-recommended levels of sodium intake could avert three lakh deaths due to heart and chronic kidney disease in 10 years, a modelling study by the World Health Organization has estimated.

High levels of sodium — an ingredient of salt — are one of the main dietary risks of death and disability. Packaged foods are a major source of sodium intake in high-income countries, and increasingly becoming so in low- and middle-income countries.

However, researchers, including those from The George Institute for Global Health, Hyderabad, said that India has no national strategy for sodium reduction despite people consuming double the recommended intake and increasing amounts of packaged foods.

The WHO recommends under two grams of sodium a day, which is roughly the same as less than a teaspoon or five grams of salt a day.

Published in The Lancet Public Health journal, the results suggested substantial health gains and cost savings within the first ten years of compliance, including averting 17 lakh cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, and seven lakh new chronic kidney disease cases, along with savings of USD 800 million.

The authors said that the results from the modelling make a strong case for India to mandate the implementation of WHO’s sodium benchmarks, especially as people are increasingly consuming packaged food.

Slashing sodium intake in the population by 30 per cent by 2025 is one of nine global targets recommended by WHO for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.

Countries, including the UK, Argentina, and South Africa, have shown that setting targets regarding sodium content in packaged foods along with engaging food manufacturers to reformulate sodium to meet the targets, can effectively lower levels across packaged foods, and thereby reduce intake in the population, the authors said.

In India, few interventions address the issue of consuming high levels of sodium, they said.

Launched in 2018 by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the current national initiative, ‘Eat Right India’, aims to educate people about healthy eating, including cutting down on sodium, the researchers said.

However, how adopting sodium targets for packaged foods could potentially impact intake across the country’s population was not known, they said.

Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.

Top News

All those who work at Tirumala should be Hindus, says newly-appointed chairman of TTD

Waqf controversy: BJP raking up issue with eye on by-polls, Maharashtra election, says K’taka CM

Diwali 2024: When festival of lights played a major role in Hindi movie scenes

Banned Yaba tablets worth Rs 10 crore seized in Assam, two held

Geethartha Chinthane-80: Status-driven culture fuels material desires 

Your sacrifice for country will always inspire us: Cong pays tributes to Indira on death anniversary

Udayavani’s ‘Chinnara Banna-2024’ art contest for children begins successfully

Related Articles More

Meeting WHO’s sodium recommendations could avert deaths from heart, kidney disease: Study

Study finds loss of smell linked with inflammation in 140 conditions, could be early sign of disease

Manipal Centre for Biotherapeutics Research hosts “Cell Therapy Conclave” at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal

About a third of 2019’s asthma cases related to prolonged exposure to PM 2.5, global study finds

New Health Seva Plan: Nita Ambani pledges free medical treatment to over 1 lakh underprivileged women & children

MUST WATCH

Ganapathi Co-operative Society Ltd

Udayavani Chinnara Banna 2024

Annapoorna Aahar | Food Places In Mysore

Ajekar Murder case

Stories With the KeyMaker


Latest Additions

All those who work at Tirumala should be Hindus, says newly-appointed chairman of TTD

Raj Thackeray is praising BJP as he is worried about son: Sanjay Raut

No instigation: HC grants pre-arrest bail to woman, paramour over her estranged husband’s suicide

BJP claims credit for Udhayanidhi’s Deepavali greetings

Faltering India brace for another spin trial in must-win third Test

Thanks for visiting Udayavani

You seem to have an Ad Blocker on.
To continue reading, please turn it off or whitelist Udayavani.