‘More Flavour, Less Salt’
The week of 8 – 14 March 2021 is the World Action on Health and Salt, with the theme ‘More Flavour, Less Salt’. Ministry of Health Malaysia has set a target of reducing salt intake among Malaysians, in line with the recommendation by World Health Organization (WHO).
Why is too much salt bad for you?
Excessive salt intake increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (i.e., hypertension, stroke, and renal failure). Four of five NCD-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
Average salt consumption from several Malaysian studies:
- Adolescents at the age of 13 years old
(MyHearts) – 5.8 g (1.15 teaspoon)1 - Low income urban dwellers B40 adults from PARTNER project – 5.2 g (1.04 teaspoon)2
- MyCoss 2017-2018 – 7.9 g (1.6 teaspoon)3
By Assoc Prof. Dr. Hazreen Abdul Majid
Head of Centre for Population Health (CePH)
3 March 2021- https://bernama.com/en/news.php?id=1937226
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1Abdul Majid, H., Ramli, L., Ying, S. P., Su, T. T., Jalaludin, M. Y., & Abdul Mohsein, N. A. S. (2016). Dietary intake among adolescents in a middle-income country: an outcome from the Malaysian Health and Adolescents Longitudinal Research Team Study (the MyHeARTs Study). PloS one, 11(5), e0155447.
2The medium urinary secretion for male and female adulst from the B40 in an urban low-cost flat (Ameera et al., 2020, unpublished).
3http://iku.moh.gov.my/research/iku/mycoss-2017-2018.