Eating 1 pack of instant noodles has too much salt all day.
Vietnamese people are eating twice as much salt as recommended, including instant noodles which contain a lot of salt.
At a communication workshop on salt reduction this morning in Hanoi, Dr. Jun Nakagawa, Deputy Representative of WHO in Vietnam, said that Vietnamese people are using nearly double the recommended amount of salt. Currently, an adult consumes 9.4g of salt per day, while WHO's recommendation is less than 5g per day.
Over the years, 19 countries have reduced salt in at least one product, mainly bread. Eleven countries reported reducing salt in processed meat, butter, breakfast cereals, sauces and ready meals.
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| Dr. Jun Nakagawa (black shirt). |
Asian countries known for their salty diets have also made efforts to reduce salt in the past decade, for example China has reduced its salt consumption by nearly 30%, Japan by 23%, and South Korea by 14%.
Mr. Nakagawa said that Vietnam should develop recommendations on the maximum amount of salt in 100g of food, prioritizing popular foods such as instant noodles, sausages...
Associate Professor, Dr. Truong Dinh Bac, Deputy Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, said that although people eat a lot of salt, when asked, only 16% of people admit to eating salty foods, while in reality, more than 90% of people eat more than 5g of salt per day, 20% regularly eat foods high in salt such as pickles, pickled eggplants, instant noodles, chips, salted peanuts, salted cashews, salted cucumbers, cheese, salted meat and other processed meats (sausages, ham, bacon, ham, sausage, etc.).
Dr. Tran Quoc Bao, Department of Preventive Medicine, added that research in Ho Chi Minh City also showed that 73% of families use instant noodles, 37% use canned food, 31% eat sausages...
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| Instant noodles are a food that contains a lot of salt. |
Meanwhile, an average instant noodle package contains 4.2g of salt, equivalent to 5-7g of salt per 100g of product. 100g of sausage also contains 1.5-2.3g of salt. Therefore, if you only eat 1 package of instant noodles per day plus other foods, you will exceed the recommended salt intake.
According to Dr. Bao, eating too much salt is a major risk factor for high blood pressure, leading to stroke, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction and many other cardiovascular diseases. Ideal blood pressure is 100/60 mmHg, while most Vietnamese people are above 110/70 mmHg.
Eating too much salt also increases the risk of kidney failure, osteoporosis and digestive tract cancer, especially stomach cancer.
As evidence, the rate of hypertension in Vietnam has continuously increased over the past few decades, from 1% in 1960 to 11.2% in 1992 and in 2015, this rate was 18.9% of the population, equivalent to 12 million people.
Currently, 1 in 5 adults suffer from high blood pressure and 1 in 3 deaths is due to cardiovascular disease. In 2011, the country also recorded more than 112,000 deaths due to cerebrovascular accidents, accounting for nearly 22% of total deaths.
The Ministry of Health recommends that to reduce the burden of disease and improve health, people need to halve their daily salt intake.
