According to the World Health Organization (WHO), each adult should only use less than 5g of salt per day, equivalent to about a teaspoon. This amount of salt includes salt in spices, dipping sauces and processed foods.
It is worth noting that not only salty dishes contain a lot of salt. Instant noodles, sausages, spring rolls, canned foods, dried fish, pickled vegetables, snacks or processed foods all have quite high sodium content. The habit of seasoning thickly or dipping them in a lot of fish sauce or soy sauce also causes the amount of salt ingested into the body to exceed the recommended level.
According to doctors, eating too much salt causes the body to retain water, increase blood volume and increase blood pressure. When blood pressure increases for a long time, the heart and blood vessels have to work too hard, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and kidney failure. Elderly people, people with high blood pressure, heart failure or kidney disease, need to pay special attention to controlling the amount of salt in their diet.
To reduce salt effectively, experts recommend taking steps to adapt the taste buds. Each family can start by seasoning less when cooking, limiting dipping in fish sauce or soy sauce, reducing the use of processed foods and prioritizing fresh foods. When buying packaged foods, you should read the sodium content information on the product label.
Thu Duc General Hospital also noted that people who are being treated for high blood pressure, heart failure or kidney disease need to reduce salt according to the doctor's instructions, and do not arbitrarily use substitute salts if they have not been professionally consulted.
Doctors recommend that maintaining a reasonable bland diet combined with regular health check-ups is a simple but effective solution to control blood pressure, prevent cardiovascular disease and protect long-term health.
