I am specifically concerned about the increasing use of common salt or sodium concentration in the diet and in the food industry. As you are aware the body requires less than 1.5 gm of salt a day. Most of the times this amount is easily obtained by the food that we generally eat.
Normal daily requirement:
· 1,000 mg for children age one to three.
· 1,200 mg for children age four to eight.
· 1,500 mg for people age nine to 50.
· 1,300 mg for adults age 51 to 70.
· 1,200 mg for seniors over 70.
Consuming more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day is known to increase the risk of health problems. High dietary sodium has been associated with an increase in blood pressure, hypertension, direct vascular and cardiac damage, obesity, stomach cancer, osteoporosis, kidney stones and increased severity of asthma symptoms. Just looking at the number of people dying from these diseases will show why we need to urgently look at the problem. Heart disease and cancer were the leading causes of death from 1935 to 2010, but it was in 1983 that these two conditions accounted for the highest percent (60 percent) of all deaths. In 2010, they constituted 47 percent of all deaths. Currently, 65 million Americans suffer from hypertension, which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. Together these diseases kill about 650,000 people annually. I am mentioning the American statistics as this is the most reliable and accurate one.
Do we realize that we are feeding our children food stuffs like fried chicken, pizzas, pastries and others that are extremely rich in sodium and potentially making them candidates for diseases. People in Finland have reduced their sodium intake by 40 per cent since the 1970s, and mortality from stroke and coronary artery disease has fallen by 70 per cent in that time.
I have an additional theory which still needs to be studied. I believe salt is addictive like alcohol and others. The more you have it the more the body gets used to it and the more it demands!!!!
Thousands of lives can be saved by cutting down the amount of sodium intake. Most people suggest that there should be labeling on the food packets that will help show the amount of sodium content. The buyer is then supposed to check and decide if the sodium content is good for him. The problem is that people want to eat something that tastes wonderful and often this is either too sweet or too salty. The option is then to avoid eating these food stuff which a lot of people can't do.
What is the way out?
My suggestion to the food industry is be active. Instead of only labeling the food packet with their sodium content, why don’t we start producing food stuffs with really low sodium content. We are living in the 21 st century: in an era where we dream of space travel and space tourism. Let us develops food stuffs that have a real low sodium level say less than 20 mg per 100 gm. Imagine if we had sausages, ham, bacon, chicken, or any meat which are cured in a way to reduce its sodium content to less than 20 mg of sodium per 100 gm: all the sick patients will be eating these regularly . Even the healthy individuals would start eating them to avoid various diseases. We already have low fat foods, if we could combine low fat and really low salt the benefits would be enormous- we will be creating a healthy generation for the future.
How will it help the food industry?
Yes initially there will be some research expenses, but this is where the government can help by financially supporting this research where is seems prudent. When you produce food stuffs with really low sodium, you are looking at a huge market of sick people who will kill to buy your products. Health conscious people and those who are high risk people for diseases will also prefer this to avoid falling sick. Children who consume a lot of fast foods and become victims of obesity and sicknesses will benefit greatly by eating these low sodium snacks and others. Besides there are a lot of spice additives that could help to obviate the need for a high sodium. At the same time we could look and research for salt substitutes besides potassium chloride.
The need of the hour is then to get back to the research table and start developing techniques where low sodium meat, meat products, fish products, can be produced with ease. Look at the cheeses in the market. All have a high content of salt or sodium and help individuals fall sick eventually. We should be able to develop really low sodium cheeses as well. If we have food products with (no sodium or salt added) this could be labeled and brought by people who are really worried about their salt intake.
I hope that sending this message to people in the food industry should help. While the salt shaker supplies only a small percentage of a persons daily intake, it is the processed and restaurant foods that account for more than three-quarters of all sodium. We have a responsibility in helping to develop a healthy generation. I for one feel the time is come for low cal, low fat and low sodium food products to be generated from the food industry. It is also time that we provide 'no salt added' food products and put on store shelves besides normal food products. Reducing sodium levels in processed and restaurant foods by 50 percent would save 150,000 lives a year. If we give people healthy alternatives it will benefit both the food business as well as the people who consume it. As lord Jesus ask in the Bible: Mathew 5:13 what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? In present times both the salt and the people who consume it have lost their flavor. If while making our food tasty, it also causes us to fall sick then its time that we did a rethink!!
May I suggest the following:
1)Sodium level to be labelled on all food products in shops, cafes, restaurant and all places where food products are given or sold.
2)Mandatory sticking of labels on all food products- ' high Intake of Salt is dangerous to health'
3)strict industry regulations to reduce the sodium levels in food products
4)research to reduce the inherent sodium of meat, fish, and their products
5)making the the parallel production and marketing of 'no salt added' food products mandatory by law- these companies could be given some tax incentives- as this initiative in the future will reduce health expenditure for the government.
I hope that my suggestions are taken in the right sense and as a medical doctor I feel that I have a responsibility towards society- one which has made me write this post. In the end it is all a team effort and each one of us has to play a role. If you feel it worthwhile do forward this to all your friends, relatives and colleagues.
References:
Havas S, Roccella EJ, Lenfant C. Am J Pub Health. 2004;94:19-22
Effective population-wide public health interventions to promote sodium reduction Sailesh Mohan MD MPH, Norm R.C. Campbell MD, Kevin Willis PhDCMAJ 2009. DOI:10.1503/cmaj.090361
Dietary Reference Intakes:Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate.(2004) pp. 6-44. Mattes RD, Donnelly D. J Am Coll Nutr.
