The report also highlights that poor diet is associated with an estimanted 8 million additional deaths around the world. Among these, 2 million deaths are associated with high sodium intake. As per the WHO, the daily intake of salt should be less than 5 grams and 2 grams for sodium.
For hypertension patients, it is advised to rely on a combination of 75% sodium chloride and 25% potassium chloride.
New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO) released the first-ever edition of Global Sodium Benchmarks earlier this week. It consisted of 10 benchmarks for food categories and as of April 2024, the second edition was released focusing on a broadened scope within every cateogry. The most recent edition specificsw the maximum levels of sodium across 70 food sub-categories. Excessive salt and sodium intake is associated with a heightened risk of suffering from high blood pressure or hypertension, a condition wherein blood crashes at a high pace against artery walls.
“These global benchmarks are intended to be complementary to ongoing national and regional efforts to set sodium targets. Global sodium benchmarks are also intended to be useful for countries in setting national policies and strategies and for the ongoing dialogue between WHO and the private sector at the global level,” read a post on the WHO website.
When most people think of salt, “deadly” doesn’t come to mind.
Yet nearly million people globally die every year from heart attacks, strokes and kidney disease caused by eating too much salt.We have too much sodium in our diets.
Mandatory national policies to reduce salt is the… pic.twitter.com/5FIL7nuxcl— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 16, 2024
The report also highlights that poor diet is associated with an estimanted 8 million additional deaths around the world. Among these, 2 million deaths are associated with high sodium intake. As per the WHO, the daily intake of salt should be less than 5 grams and 2 grams for sodium. Overtime, uncontrollably high levels of sodium are associated with health problems such as:
- Liver diseases
- Chronic kidney disease
- Water retention
- Obesity
- Stomach cancer
Therefore, it is imperative to be mindful about the amount of sodium one consumes in a day. The report also offers a detailed list of food groups with a Global Benchmark and and the lowest maximum limit as well on which the benchmark is centred. These included:
Cookies and sweet biscuits – 200mg/100g
Savoury biscuits and crackers – 580mg/100 g
The full list is available on the website.
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