- Published: November 18, 2022
- Updated: November 18, 2022
- University / College: University of Bristol
- Level: Masters
- Language: English
- Downloads: 21
Salt composed of sodium and chloride ions that bonded together. It plays an important role in our body. Sodium regulates water balance, amount of intracellular fluid, sugar level in the blood, helps to generate the hydroelectric energy, controls nerve cell communication and signaling, brain function and bone formation. This is not the full list of vital functions of sodium in our body. But excess consumption of the salt can be quite dangerous as it leads to high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, and kidney disease. Appropriate health care plan can reduce the amount of sodium intake providing recommendations and instructions for diet. This can prevent all diseases related to increased intake of sodium. Such diet must be rich in fruits and vegetables, fresh food that contain low amount of the sodium, rich in potassium as it may decrease the effect of sodium in blood pressure, include less prepared food with high quantity of sodium. Also it is important to check the labels of the food products in the grocery and choose lower sodium food. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends 1500-2300 mg of sodium per day. 1500 mg equals to 3. 75 g or ¾ teaspoons of sodium. The other possible option of overall reduction of salt intake of the population is sodium reduction in the communities programs. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention approved such program for 2013-2016. The main goals of this program to decrease sodium consumption reducing sodium in food establishments, monitoring of total sodium intake, working with food distributors, offering appropriate information on food for consumers, developing nutritional standards. Therefore, it is quite necessary to control sodium consumption as it may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease development and improve overall health of the population.
(CDC, 2014)
Reference:
1. CDC.(2014). Sodium Reduction in Communities Program. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention Online. Retrieved from http://www. cdc. gov/dhdsp/programs/sodium_reduction. htm
