Many Vietnamese people suffer from high blood pressure due to overeating

Vietnamese people eat a lot of salt, nearly double the recommended amount of less than 5g per person per day.

On March 27, the Department of Preventive Medicine, the Ministry of Health organized a communication workshop to reduce salt in the diet to prevent hypertension, stroke .

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that each adult should consume less than 5 g of salt per day , equivalent to one teaspoon. However, most Vietnamese people consume twice as much salt as recommended, nearly 10g per person per day, but only 16% of respondents said that they eat salty.

High salt intake is the main cause of hypertension, stroke, myocardial infarction .

According to the 2015 survey, nearly 90% of people cook salt, fish sauce, and other spices to prepare food. Nearly 20% regularly eat prepared salt-rich dishes such as melon, salted, instant noodles, bimbo, roasted peanuts, salty cashews, pickled cucumbers, cheese, bacon and other processed meats (sausages, hams, bacon, rolls, rolls .).

Research in Ho Chi Minh City also showed that 73% of families use instant noodles, 37% use canned food, 31% eat sausages . Meanwhile, an average package of instant noodles contains 4, 2 g of salt; corresponding 5-7 grams of salt in every 100 g of product. In a 100 g sausage also has 1.5-2.3 g of salt.

Associate Professor Truong Dinh Bac, Deputy Director of Preventive Medicine Department said that eating a lot of salt is the main cause of high blood pressure , stroke, myocardial infarction, cardiovascular disease and non-communicable diseases. other infections. In our country, one out of every five adults has hypertension, one in every three deaths due to cardiovascular disease. The main cause is stroke.

In developed countries, human salt is consumed daily mainly from processed foods or in restaurants (77%). In Vietnam, daily salt is derived from seasoning spices during cooking or by spice / seasoning on the table.

The Department of Preventive Medicine recommends that, in order to reduce the burden of disease and improve health, people need to halve their daily salt intake. According to nutrition experts, parents should forge the habit of eating light from an early age. For people who have a salty habit, when cooking, they should follow the principle of gradual salt reduction, for example, just add half a teaspoon of salt to a spoonful before.