Cooking dishes are not salty and tasteless", "I like to eat cured meat", "I like to buy snacks"... The survey shows that about 60.5% of the salt intake in life comes from home cooking or condiments, and 39% comes from pre-packaged food, as well as eating out.
As one of the important condiments in life, salt is the "king of all flavors". However, in recent years, chronic diseases such as hypertension and cardiovascular disease have become the main factors that threaten the health of Chinese residents, and high-salt diet is an important risk factor for diseases such as hypertension, stroke, and gastric cancer.
"Salt is not a poison, and sodium chloride is also a nutrient for the human body, but excessive intake will endanger human health." On May 24, the Chinese Nutrition Society held the 2021 Food Industry Salt Reduction Practice Seminar in Beijing, my country Zhang Bing, deputy director of the Institute of Nutrition and Health of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emphasized that the average daily salt intake of Chinese residents is 10.4 grams, far exceeding the recommended daily intake for adults in the World Health Organization and the "Healthy China Action (2019-2030)" Do not exceed an intake of 5 grams.
Reducing salt intake is the most cost-effective public health strategy to prevent hypertension. The previously released "Healthy China 2030" Plan Outline clearly pointed out that by 2030, the national per capita daily salt intake will be reduced by 20%. It is also clear in the "China Dietary Guidelines (2016)" that the recommended intake of salt per person per day should not exceed 6 grams.
So, how much is 6 grams of salt? About a beer bottle cap, remove the inner rubber pad, fill the cap with salt, and the top is flush with the cap.
Salt is a necessity to maintain the physiological balance of the human body. The sodium, chloride and potassium contained in it have an impact on the human muscles, nerves, heart and other organs, as well as functions such as digestion, hormone secretion, and blood pressure.
However, sodium actually has many benefits for the body as well. Taking manual laborers as an example, if you sweat a lot, you need to add a certain amount of salt, otherwise you will have no energy.
In recent years, although people's concept of healthy living has improved, traditional salt methods such as eating pickles may affect their health. "In our daily life, the sources of salt include sauces and other condiments in addition to salt," Zhang Bing said. Among the risk factors for chronic diseases, diet ranks first, followed by high blood pressure, and finally is cardiovascular disease. This shows that salt has a great impact on health.
The World Health Organization wants global salt intake to drop by 30% by 2025, to a level of 7.4 grams per adult. my country has also set a salt control target, which will be reduced to less than 5 grams by 2022 and even 2030.
Since 2000, my country's salt consumption has been gradually declining. "But in fact, we are still far from this goal." Zhang Bing said. How to reduce salt scientifically? The first step is to establish a regular scientific monitoring system for salt and sodium consumption. Second, strengthen health science education and raise public awareness of salt reduction. Third, carry out research on salt reduction technologies and strategies for prepackaged food in catering, and replace salt with new condiments to reduce sodium intake. Fourth, promote the policy of reducing salt in restaurants, canteens, and the food industry. Fifth, create a good environment for salt reduction.