Salt intake by Jamaicans above recommended level – Study
Published:Tuesday | September 6, 2022 | 6:10 PM
The average salt intake of Jamaicans is almost twice as high as the recommended level, contributing to high blood pressure among members of the population.
This puts these Jamaicans at increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
The findings are contained in phase one of the $13-million salt study, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Wellness last year.
The results of the study were shared today by Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton while speaking at the media launch of the 66th Annual CARPHA Health Research Conference in Kingston.
“Sixty-seven per cent or two out of every three Jamaicans consume more than the recommended sodium intake, which is about 3.6 grams daily, above the recommended level of two grams daily,” said Tufton.
Other findings from phase one of the study, which is being led by Professor Trevor Ferguson, Director, Epidemiology Research Unit at the Caribbean Institute for Health Research, include that:
● 73% of males have higher than recommended levels of sodium intake, with prevalence highest among men aged 45-54 years.
● 60.7% of females have higher than recommended levels of sodium intake, with prevalence greatest among those 35-44 years.
● The estimated mean sodium consumption suggests a pattern of high sodium and low potassium consumption for almost 30 years, with results reported from phase one of the study similar to those from the Spanish Town Cohort Study of the 1990s.
“Indeed, the majority of adult Jamaicans have diets high in sodium and low in potassium, requiring urgent public health interventions to reduce salt consumption and increase potassium intake to address the burden of hypertension and cardiovascular disease,” Tufton noted.
The salt study comes against the background of concerning statistics for hypertension (high blood pressure) among Jamaicans.
One in three Jamaicans are hypertensive – 35.8% women and 31.7% men, according to the Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey for 2016/17.
Four out of every 10 people with the disease are unaware of their status – 60% men and 26% women.
At the same time, more and more Jamaicans aged 15 to 74 years old are developing hypertension.
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