Low awareness of high sodium intake among older Chinese people

The perspective of hypertension and salt intake in Chinese population

Salt intake is too high nowadays. It has been widely recognized that there is a close relationship between hypertension (HTN) and dietary salt intake. Investigations reveal that long-term high salt intake, mainly sodium intake, induces a relevant increase in blood pressure in hypertensive and normotensive individuals. According to most scientific evidence, a diet with high salt intake in public increases cardiovascular risk, salted-related HTN, and other HTN-associated outcomes. Given the clinical importance, this review aims to present the prevalence of HTN and trends in salt intake in the Chinese population and will comprehensively discuss the risk factors, causes, and mechanisms of the association between salt intake and HTN. The review also highlights the education of Chinese people regarding salt intake and the cost-effectiveness of salt reduction from a global perspective. Finally, the review will emphasize the need to customize the unique Chinese practices to reduce salt intake and how awareness changes people's eating lifestyle and helps adopt diet salt reduction strategies.

Current Knowledge and Behavior towards Salt Reduction among Hong Kong Citizens: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Excessive dietary salt intake is prevalent in the Hong Kong community. Over the last decade, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has been actively promoting community participation to reduce salt intake. The aim of this study was to investigate the current knowledge levels and behaviors relating to dietary salt intake among Hong Kong adults. This cross-sectional survey involved 426 adults in Hong Kong. The findings of this study identified areas of knowledge deficit in the recommended upper limit of daily salt intake for an adult set by World Health Organization (n = 295, 69.2%) indicated a lack of awareness that the overconsumption of salt could cause coronary heart disease (n = 233, 54.7%). Disengagement with salt reduction behavior, such as rarely/never checking the sodium or salt content listed on the food label (n = 252, 59.2%) and rarely/never purchasing food labelled with low salt or no salt content (n = 292, 68.9%), was reported. Excessive salt intake in dietary habits remains an under-recognized non-communicable disease threat by Hong Kong citizens, indicating ineffective responsive risk communication. There is a need to refine existing salt reduction initiatives to aid in making appropriate decisions regarding dietary salt intake among Hong Kong citizens.