Higher salt intake among Malaysians a cause for concern
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysians, on the average, consume 7.15 gm of salt daily, higher than the five gm recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam.
He said a 2015 pilot study of the Health Ministry showed that people aged 18 and above consumed more salt.
Such consumption could lead to hypertension and result in heart disease and stroke that could be fatal, he said to reporters in conjunction with World Salt Awareness Week 2018 that began on March 12, here yesterday.
Subramaniam said many people were unaware that they were consuming excessive salt in their daily diet.
“The people have to change the culture of salt intake and adopt a healthy lifestyle. There is a need to reduce the intake of salt to ensure good health,” he said.
Subramaniam said that among the 20 types of food often eaten that contributed to the highest salt intake were soy sauce, fried rice, omelette, nasi lemak, thick soy sauce, roti canai, meat soup, oyster sauce, instant noodles, chilli/ tomato sauce, sambal belacan, budu, salted fish, seasoning stock, snacks, canned food and processed food.
“When we eat at home or in a restaurant, there is surely a bottle of soy sauce on the table. Automatically, people will want to add soy sauce to their food. I urge Malaysians to be more concerned about reducing their salt intake to five grams daily or less than one teaspoon a day. I believe salt consumption is difficult to control especially among children because they like to eat crackers and fast food. The Health Ministry is working with the Education Ministry to ensure that canteen operators provide healthy food to pupils and students,” he said.
Subramaniam said the main message of the World Salt Awareness Week, which carried the theme of ‘5 Ways to 5 Grams’, was to remind the people of the effects of excessive salt intake and to suggest five steps how they could avoid this.
These steps were to choose healthy foods; read and compare labels before buying food; gradually reduce salt in favourite recipes; avoid serving salt, soy sauce and sauces during meals; replace salt with spices and natural seasoning when cooking and adding seasoning.
“Eat more vegetables and fruits and reduce the intake of processed food. People are strongly encouraged to often eat at home and bring home-cooked food to the workplace,” he said.
Dr Subramaniam also said that the ministry was expediting the regulation on mandatory sodium labelling for all processed food products and was working with the food industry to implement the Food Product Reformulation.
Nevertheless, he said, all efforts aimed at reducing the salt content in high salt- content products were in the early stages of implementation and required commitment and support from all individuals and the parties involved.
“Hopefully, all these efforts to reduce the salt intake can help to prevent and control hypertension and its complications, and thus reduce premature deaths among Malaysians.
”Studies show that one out of three adults in the country suffer from hypertension while one out of five adults do not know that they have the disease,” he said. — Bernama
The people have to change the culture of salt intake and adopt a healthy lifestyle. There is a need to reduce the intake of salt to ensure good health. Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam, Health Minister