There are currently 6.3 million South Africans living with high blood pressure, with roughly 130 heart attacks and 240 strokes occurring each day.
According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa, up to 80 percent of these cardiovascular diseases could be prevented if we changed our eating behaviour, particularly our salt intake.
The 16 to 20 March is World Salt Awareness Week and the focus is on salt and children. Like adults, children consume more salt than the maximum recommendation.
Simple measures need to be taken to help reduce salt intake and therefore reduce the number of people suffering from cardiovascular disease.
Children are considered a vulnerable group in society often with little influence on or involvement in what they eat.
Evidence suggests that dietary habits in childhood and adolescence also influence eating patterns in later life
Liking salt and salty foods is a learned taste preference and so it is vital that children do not develop a taste for salt in the first place.
There are certain myths about the intake of salt and the effect it has on our bodies:
Myth: I don’t add any salt to my food so I know I don’t eat too much.
Truth: About 75% of the salt we eat is already in everyday foods such as bread, cheese and sauces, so most of us are eating too much salt without even realising.
Myth: I don’t have high blood pressure so I don’t need to eat less salt.
Truth: The risk of disease starts within the healthy range of blood pressure, so most people will benefit from eating less salt. Also blood pressure increases with age, putting individuals at risk of disease, but with a low salt diet the rise in blood pressure doesn’t occur.
Myth: I only use sea salt and that’s healthier than table salt.
Truth: Rock and sea salts are just as high in sodium chloride as table salt so they’re just as bad for our health.
Myth: You can tell when a food is salty because it tastes salty.
Truth: Some foods that are high in salt don’t taste particularly salty. Breakfast cereals, bread, jarred sauces and biscuits & cakes can all contain hidden salt.
Myth: Food with less salt tastes bland.
Truth: After 3 weeks of less salt your taste buds will become more sensitive so you get the same flavour from less salt. Stick with it! You can also use other flavours instead of salt, click here to see how.
Myth: I need more salt because I exercise a lot and ‘sweat it out’.
Truth: You only lose a small amount of salt in sweat, and as we all eat more than we need, most people won’t need to take on any extra. Remember to keep hydrated.
As part of the week, government and organisations will encourage the food industry to act more responsibly by reducing the amount of salt they add to children’s food and to stop advertising high salt food to children.
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