A new modelling study by the World Health Organization has found that complying with the WHO-recommended levels of sodium intake can help prevent three lakh deaths due to heart and chronic kidney disease in 10 years. The study was conducted by researchers including those from The George Institute for Global Health, Hyderabad and published in The Lancet Public Health journal.

High levels of sodium which is a major ingredient of salt are one of the main dietary risks of death and disability. Packaged foods are a major source of sodium intake in high-income countries, and increasingly becoming so in low- and middle-income countries.

However, researchers said that India has no national strategy for sodium reduction despite people consuming double the recommended intake and increasing amounts of packaged foods.

Salt plays an important role in several important functions of your body. It helps to maintain fluid balance, nerve function and muscle contraction. However, it is important to keep a check on the consumption of salt. WHO recommends that adults consume less than 2000 mg/day of sodium (equivalent to less than 5 g/day salt (just under a teaspoon) in a day.

The results of the study suggest substantial health gains and cost savings within the first ten years of compliance, including averting 17 lakh cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, and seven lakh new chronic kidney disease cases, along with savings of USD 800 million.

The authors said that the results from the modelling make a strong case for India to mandate the implementation of WHO’s sodium benchmarks, especially as people are increasingly consuming packaged food.

Reducing sodium intake in the population by 30 per cent by 2025 is one of nine global targets recommended by WHO for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. The authors said that countries, including the UK, Argentina and South Africa have shown that setting targets regarding sodium content in packaged foods along with engaging food manufacturers to reformulate sodium to meet the targets, can help to effectively lower levels across packaged foods and thereby reduce intake in the population.

The researchers said that in India, few interventions address the issue of consuming high levels of sodium, they said. Launched in 2018 by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the current national initiative, 'Eat Right India', aims to educate people about healthy eating, including cutting down on sodium.

However, how adopting sodium targets for packaged foods could potentially impact intake across the country’s population was not known, they said.

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