engleski

Excessive salt intake and prevention on hypertension – A Croatian experience

Excessive salt intake is the key factor in the epidemic of the pre-hypertension/hypertension. Croatia has published in 2014. a National Strategic Plan to Reduce Overdose Intake of Salt in Republic of Croatia 2014-2019, a harmonized document with WHO, UN and ESAN documents. One of the main objectives was to obtain a reduction of salt intake from food by 16% in 4-year period. According to the recommendations of the WHO, recommended amount of salt is 5 grams/day (2g sodium) while according to the latest research, the habitants in Croatia still cosume averaged daily twice as much as the recommended daily amount (11.6 g/day). The average Croatian consumer consumes far more bakery products than consumers in the European Union, where there is evidence that they are less likely to consume bread. As traditional dry meat products contain significant amounts of salt (average of 4-8%), their use in human nutrition should be moderate. When putting into relationship the data of the average traditional meat products consumption in the Eastern part od Croatia (Slavonija) with the data of the salt proportion obtained, it represents even about half of the recommended daily salt intake. On the other hand, given that in developed regions and countries between 60 and 80% of salt is consumed passively, the responsibility for action to reduce salt levels clearly lies with the food industry. A 53% reduction in salt intake from processed foods and eating out is required to be able to meet the 5 g daily target. Conclusions: Due to ignorance, bad eating habits and excessive use, the salt today causes more harm than good for the human body. To prevent and control hypertension and improve health, efforts to remove excess salt from the diets in Croatian and European population should focus on better education, reformulation of ready-to-eat food and reducing salt in home cooking but also on reducing the amount of bakery and traditional meat products in the daily diet.

Salt intake ; prevention ; hypertension, Croatia

3rd Annual Conference on Hypertension and Cardiovascular Diseases ; October 09-10, 2019., Madrid, Spain.