A new modeling study from the World Health Organization has found that complying with WHO-recommended sodium intake levels could help prevent three million deaths caused by heart and chronic kidney disease over 10 years. The study was conducted by researchers including researchers from The George Institute for Global Health, Hyderabad and published in The Lancet Public Health journal.

High levels of sodium, a major component 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 rapidly increasing in low- and middle-income countries.

However, the researchers said India has no national strategy for sodium reduction despite people consuming double the recommended amount and increasing amounts of packaged foods.

Salt plays an important role in many important functions of your body. It helps maintain fluid balance, nerve function and muscle contraction. However, it is important to control salt intake. WHO recommends that adults consume less than 2000 mg/day of sodium (equivalent to less than 5 g/day of salt (just under a teaspoon) a day).

Study results suggest substantial health benefits and cost savings within the first ten years of compliance, including preventing 1.7 million cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, and seven million new chronic kidney disease cases. This also includes savings of US$800 million. ,

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

Reducing sodium intake in the population by 30 percent by 2025 is one of nine global targets recommended by WHO for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. The authors said that countries including the UK, Argentina and South Africa have shown that there is a need to engage food manufacturers to reformulate sodium to meet targets, as well as with respect to sodium content in packaged foods. Setting goals can help effectively reduce sodium levels in packaged foods and thus lead to reduction. Intake in population.

In India, few interventions address the issue of high levels of sodium consumption, the researchers said. Launched in 2018 by the Food Safety and Standards 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.

However, how adopting sodium targets for packaged foods might potentially impact intake in the country’s population was not known, he said.

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