In health care, the ideal is that parents teach their children, from an early age, and apply good eating habits for a good development and lifestyle. Eating vegetables, fruits, a balanced diet, without so much fat and salt is one of the primary bases that should be met, and many times it is achieved; however, the ease and the presence of processed foods on the market, which frees so many steps in the kitchen, spoil the first.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), according to Infomed, the National Center for Medical Sciences Information, once again proposed to help the nations of the American continent to reduce the consumption of salt that is already incorporated in processed products and those that are considered ultra-processed. PAHO estimates that the highest amount of sodium that men consume on a daily basis comes from these types of foods.
The article stated that “in the region, salt intake is above 5 grams (2 grams of sodium) per day recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), and its consumption ranges from 8.5 to 15 grams per person ”. A lower consumption of salt would mean fewer cases of hypertensive and cardiovascular patients, and with it, a lower rate of deaths from cardiovascular diseases associated with high blood pressure.
Although governments proposed to reduce salt consumption by 30 percent by 2025, the Covid-19 pandemic and the quarantines that have had to be planned have affected strategies and all lifestyle habits, that of Diet has been threatened by increased consumption of junk, canned, or already processed food, or what is the same as an unhealthy diet, coupled with stress, little socialization and little physical activity.
Fabio Da Silva Gomes, PAHO Regional Advisor on Nutrition and Physical Activity emphasized that “if we want to achieve substantive changes we need these goals to be adopted with a regulatory approach rather than a voluntary one. Doing so is the only way in which countries will be able to reduce the average intake of salt in the population by 2025, in a context in which sales of processed and ultra-processed products with excessive sodium content continue to grow ”.
