Vietnamese people eat the saltiest food in the world.

Salty diet is one of the main reasons for the rapid increase in the number of people with high blood pressure in Vietnam. Normally, each Vietnamese person is eating nearly double the salt recommended by the World Health Organization, which is less than 5 grams/person/day.

Eating salty foods is one of the reasons why many people suffer from high blood pressure. In the photo: salty dishes such as dried fish, fried meat with fish sauce, and salty stews are often found in Vietnamese family meals - Photo: Chau Anh

Salt is everywhere and the majority of Vietnamese people are eating much saltier than recommended levels, contributing to the number of people with high blood pressure increasing from over 25% of adults to over 47%.

Suffering from eating salty food

According to the National Institute of Nutrition, 5 grams of salt equivalent to one teaspoon or 2.5 tablespoons of yogurt is the total recommended amount of salt for each person in one day.

But that's not all the salt that each person is using in a day, because 10% of foods already have natural salt, fast foods like chips, instant noodles, bread... all have salt.

Doctor Lai Duc Truong (World Health Organization Office in Vietnam) said that the source of salt used in Vietnam is different from that in developed countries, because in developed countries salt mainly comes from processed foods, while in Vietnam only 20% of salt intake comes from processed foods, restaurant food, the rest is salt, fish sauce, soy sauce for seasoning and dipping in family meals.

"If you want to control the amount of salt in Vietnamese meals, controlling the preparation of family meals is also an effective measure," said Dr. Truong.

High blood pressure is the most significant consequence of eating salty food. Japan has spent 10 years trying to reduce its salt intake by 30%, and with this result, Japanese people's blood pressure has decreased to the ideal level. But high blood pressure is only one of the diseases related to eating salty food, too much salt is also related to many other diseases such as stomach cancer, kidney cancer, kidney stones, osteoporosis...

How much salt is enough?

The National Institute of Nutrition is implementing a communication campaign on preventive measures to reduce non-communicable diseases, of which the main non-communicable diseases related to diet are diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

According to Ms. Le Bach Mai - former deputy director of the National Institute of Nutrition, the ideal level is that each person should only eat less than 5 grams of salt/day. To achieve this goal while most Vietnamese people like to eat salty food, the National Institute of Nutrition recommends measures to practice reducing salt intake such as adding less salt to dishes, dipping lightly when dipping, regularly eating steamed and boiled foods, limiting processed foods containing a lot of salt and reducing braised, stewed and fried dishes in meals.

Dr. Mai said that this is not an easy task, because the Japanese are more disciplined than the Vietnamese, but after 10 years of trying, they have only reduced 30% of salt in their diet, while Vietnam still has 8 years to reduce 30% of salt by 2025 as the set target. With this target, each person should only use less than 1 teaspoon of salt/day for all types of food.

Dr. Lai Duc Truong said that a Native American tribe has the habit of not using salt in food processing, and this tribe also has no patients with high blood pressure and almost no other cardiovascular diseases. "There should be a policy of labeling the amount of salt in food soon," said Dr. Truong.

Measures to prevent non-communicable diseases

Reduce salt intake, control weight, use adequate amounts of fat and protein, reduce refined sugar intake, increase fruit and vegetable intake, drink enough water, and do appropriate physical activity.

According to Dr. Le Bach Mai, a national survey of risk factors leading to non-communicable diseases in Vietnam shows that nearly 60% of people eat too few vegetables and fruits, nearly 44% drink alcohol, 22.5% smoke... Regarding risk factors, nearly 13% of Vietnamese people aged 18-69 have less than 3 risk factors, nearly 8% have more than 3 risk factors, in the 45-69 age group, over 21% have more than 3 risk factors for non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease...).

According to TTO