engleski

Importance of salt content reduction in bakery products

Studies have shown that the excessive intake of sodium/salt has a negative effect on health, primarily on the cardiovascular system. High blood pressure is one of the major casual factors in the cardiovascular diseases, which can be successfully decreased by reduction of sodium intake in diet. The average daily salt intakes of the European population are high (10-20 g salt/day) and surpass quantity of physiological requirements (5-6 g salt/day). Therefore, many international and national bodies set an aim to reduce the salt intake in diet. Since the average daily salt intake of Croatian population is 13- 16g/day, the Croatian Academy of Medical Science and other medical societies launched national programme for reducing salt intake. The first task of Croatian programme is to obtain the exact data on salt consumption. It is estimated that 70-75% of total salt comes from manufactured foods. Since the salt intake from bread is significant (~30%), the bakery industry is joining the national initiative to salt reduction. The aim of this paper was to estimate the salt content in bakery products in Osijek- Baranja County (East Croatia). The salt content was estimated in 23 samples of commercial bread and 22 samples of different rolls taken from the market. The obtained results showed that the salt content in bread in the Osijek-Baranja County varied in the range from 0.96 to 2.05%. %. This share is even higher in products strewed with salt (2.04 to extremely 4.76%). Most consumers of those products (breakfast rolls) are children and adolescent, who get the habit of eating salty food from childhood. Although the salt addition has an impact on sensory and technological properties, investigations showed that salt addition in bakery products can be reduced up to 25% without negative effect on quality. It may be possible to set an average target of salt reduction in Croatian bakery products gradually from 10 to 25% in the next three years, with the aim of getting used to food with less salt, which should contribute to long-term prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Discussions with the bakery products industry and the government would be needed to define a way to achieve the reduction in salt level consistent with technological and sensory needs.

salt reduction ; bakery product ; salt content in bakery product

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