Over half of the Italian pay attention to how much salt consumesbut although at the table we have reduced it, both in the preparation of meals and in the consumption of preserved foods, we still take on too much: the most recent data show that only the 10% of men and the 24% of women has already reached a adequate salt consumptionequal according to the WHO to no more 5 grams per day.
This difference highlights the importance of the comparison between perceptions and objective data to increase awareness onimpact of salt on health.
Salt consumption: what the guidelines tell us
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that you Do not exceed 5 grams of salt per dayequal to about a teaspoon.
However, the data reported in the report Who Global Report On Sodium Intake Reduction They tell us that worldwide The daily consumption of salt in the adult population is On average of 10.8 grams: more than double. For this reason, of the 194 Member States of WHO, 79% (i.e. 154 States) undertook to implement policies aimed at encouraging the reduction of the daily contribution of sodium.
Despite this, all Member States are still far from reaching theglobal objective of reducing sodium hiring by 2025 by 30%one of the nine strategic points of the WHO 2013-2020 global action plan for the prevention and control of non-transmissible diseases.
And our country is no exception: official statistics tell us that The consumption of salt also in Italy remains superior to this threshold.
How much salt we consume in Italy?
The preliminary data on 12 regions of the 2023-2024 survey of the heart project, an initiative ofHigher Institute of Health (ISS) which monitors cardiovascular risk factors in Italy, tell us that Less than a quarter of the adult population has a consumption of rooms lower than the threshold recommended by the WHO of 5 grams daily. By analyzing the data in more detail, they also emerge significant gender differences: 24% of women manage to respect this threshold against only 10% of men.
Overall, Average daily intake salt in Italy is respectively of 9.3 g in men And 7.2 g in women. These values are about 12% lower than the period 2008-2012 but substantially stable compared to the previous survey carried out in the 2018-2019 combination.
The reduction of salt consumption in the adult population is monitored byISS also through the Surveillance system stepswhich has the task of investigating the style of view and risk factors for health. The most recent data, referring to the two-year period 2022-2023, confirm that Over half of Italians (56%) tried to reduce the use of saltboth at the table and during the preparation of meals. This trend is growing, to indicate an increase in awareness on the impact of salt on health but also a dysomogeneity between the population.
Attention to this issue increases with increasing age: the share of young people between 18 and 34 years of age which limits the consumption of salt reaches only 43%, while between 50 and 69 years it reaches 64%. The data shows that the level of education also has an impact on habits: those with a higher title of studies in fact show greater attention to the use of salt. In addition, geographical differences with southern Italy also emerge which has a careful population percentage (51%) lower than that of those who reside in northern Italy.
Why is it important to reduce salt?
When we think about Reduction of saltwe must remind us that even if the main source of sodium is table salt (sodium chloride), we also find it in many ready -made foods and condiments, for example in the form of sodium glutamate.
The reduction of sodium intake therefore provides an awareness that goes beyond simple reduce the salt that goes into the pasta or that we use to season the salad. However, being attentive to the consumption of salt plays a key role in the Disease prevention. The WHO has in fact estimated that the excessive food income of salt causes about 1.89 million deaths every year only for cardiovascular diseases linked to a Increase in blood pressure and to a greater probability of meeting fatal events such as heart attack and stroke.
In addition, the most recent studies are increasingly demonstrating a statistically significant association with the increase in risk also for other pathological conditions such as gastric cancer, obesity, osteoporosis and kidney disease.
