NEW ORLEANS — Seventy-five percent of the world’s population consumes nearly twice the daily recommended amount of sodium (salt), according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention 2013 Scientific Sessions.
Global sodium intake from commercially prepared food, table salt, salt and soy sauce added during cooking averaged nearly 4,000mg a day in 2010.
The World Health Organization recommends limiting sodium to less than 2,000mg a day and the American Heart Association recommends limiting sodium to less than 1,500mg a day.
“This study is the first time that information about sodium intake by country, age and gender is available,” said Saman Fahimi, M.D., M.Phil., lead author and a visiting scientist in the Harvard School of Public Health’s epidemiology department in Boston, Mass. “We hope our findings will influence national governments to develop public health interventions to lower sodium.”
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the world; excess sodium intake raises blood pressure. High blood pressure is one of the major contributors to the development of cardiovascular disease.
Among women and men, average sodium intake exceeded healthy levels in almost all countries, researchers said. Kazakhstan had the highest average intake at 6,000mg per day, followed by Mauritius and Uzbekistan at just less than 6,000 mg per day.
Kenya and Malawi had the lowest average intake at about 2,000mg per day. In the US, the average intake was about 3,600mg a day.
One hundred eighty-one of 187 countries, representing 99 percent of the world’s population, exceeded the World Health Organization’s recommended sodium intake of less than 2,000mg a day; and 119 countries, representing 88 percent of the world’s population, exceeded this recommended intake by more than 1,000 mg a day. All countries except Kenya exceeded the American Heart Association recommended sodium intake of less than 1,500mg a day.
The researchers analyzed 247 surveys of adult sodium intake to estimate sodium intake, stratified by age, gender, region and nation between 1990 and 2010 as part of the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases Study, which is an international collaborative study by 488 scientists from 303 institutions in 50 countries around the world.
Health Tip: Get More Iron
Try these meals & snacks
Iron is an essential nutrient, but many people (especially women of childbearing age and adolescent girls) do not get enough iron.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests ways to get more iron in your diet:
- Spinach salad topped with sirloin
- Scrambled eggs and ham
- Bran cereal paired with grapefruit
- Whole wheat toast with a side of papaya
- A peanut butter sandwich on whole-wheat bread paired with an orange
