WHO, World Health Organization, compiles a global ranking of national policies of 177 states (including Italy) to reduce salt consumption. (1) With yet another call, to the governments of the planet, to take much-needed public health measures.
Excess salt-still ubiquitous-is a primary cause of serious and chronic diseases (NCDs, Non-Communicable Diseases) and premature mortality. And the global goal, to reduce salt intake by 30 percent by 2025, appears utopian. In fact, a defeat.
WHO, salt consumption over twice the limit
The WHO recommendation to limit salt consumption to 5 grams per day is unknown to much of the global population and its health institutions. In fact, average consumption is estimated to be 10.8 grams, more than double the limit.
The habit of consuming highly savory foods is also stimulated by the food industry, which still indulges in offering products with poor nutritional profiles, as confirmed by the recent WASHH analysis. (2)
Moreover, the harms associated with excess salt occur in the long term, when dietary intervention is not enough to remedy disabling conditions such as cardiovascular and kidney disease, stroke, diabetes, and osteoporosis. (3)
Distracted governments
The scientific evidence seems unknown to a large proportion of public health administrators. In fact, only 5 percent of WHO member states have mandatory and comprehensive sodium reduction policies. 73 percent lack a full range of implementation of such policies. In the middle who floats.
Implementation of salt (and sodium) reduction policies could save about 7 million lives globally by 2030, WHO recalls. As well as mitigating related health and welfare costs: hospitalization, treatment and medication, and absence from work.
Sustainable Development Goal No. 3 – Good Health and Well-being – should moreover decline in the reduction of deaths from non-communicable diseases. (4)
Only 9 countries aligned
For the first time, the recommendation to take action is accompanied by a ranking that meticulously reports on the efforts made by the 177 member states, listing and documenting the measures (if any) taken.
According to the report, today only nine countries-Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Uruguay-have a comprehensive package of policies in place to reduce salt/sodium intake.
4 levels of engagement on the goal
The WHO ranking is divided into four levels. These range from action plans of the ‘publicity progress’ kind to voluntary measures to the implementation of concrete measures, including several mandatory tools to achieve effective reduction of salt consumption in the population, from communication campaigns to Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labeling (FOPNL), such as the long-awaited NutriScore in Europe. (5)
No surprises for Italy, which ranks in the middle, along with the majority, among the 65 states where there are voluntary measures of little effectiveness for agribusiness operators or ‘encouragement’ to the population to reduce salt consumption. Moreover, the initiatives that stop the Bel Paese midway are quite dated.
Salt and mandolin
The Ministry of Health website today is still entangled in Covid-19 affairs. Related campaigns with invitation to vaccinate stop in December 2022, in a somewhat neglected area.
References to excessive salt consumption appear (after careful research) with reference to some voluntary agreements with the bakers’ association and the food industry, formerly AIIPA now Unione Italiana Food.
The institutional website page on the subject, moreover, has been down for a year, and Unione Italiana Food’s agreement with the Ministry of Health would still have yielded an average amount of salt, for the crackers category, of 1.99 grams of salt per 100 grams of crackers.
Therefore, a dozen crackers is worth half of the maximum daily salt threshold specified by WHO. Successful agreement?
Virtuous we become
WHO’s call to member states could awaken the responsibility of public health administrators. It may therefore come in handy to recall the four ‘best buy’ interventions related to salt/sodium that according to the World Health Organization can contribute to the prevention of noncommunicable diseases:
- reformulate foods so that they contain less salt and set goals for the amount of sodium in foods and meals,
- Provide salt/sodium limits in calls for meals in hospitals, schools, workplaces and nursing homes,
- adopt front-of-pack labeling-front-on-pack nutritional labeling, FoPNL (NutriScore)-to help consumers select low-sodium products,
- Implement (or initiate) communication campaigns on the topic.
Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) WHO global report on sodium intake reduction. World Health Organization. 9.3.23 https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240069985
(2) Marta Strinati. Big Food, the unsustainable business of unbalanced foods alerts investors. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 9.3.23
(3) Marta Strinati. Too much salt in the diet causes heart attack and cancer. Here’s how to make yourself safe. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 22.3.17
(4) Dario Dongo, Giulia Caddeo. Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs. The challenge of humanity. Égalité. 3.9.19
(5) Marta Strinati. EU public health, EUPHA, points to NutriScore as the best option of FoPNL. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 20.3.23
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
