Sodium Counting

23 Jun 2019 11:30 12:00
Safir
Ms Teong Lee Fang Speaker

 

 

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) pandemic is increasing at alarming rate, impacting younger generations and leading cause of death around the world. World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended several initiatives to combat this prevalence, with salt reduction as a cost-effective strategy for hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Ministry of Health Malaysia, in line with WHO recommendation, targeted dietary sodium intake of less than 2000mg per day for prevention of NCDs. 

However, recent study had shown that sodium intake among Malaysian population is still above recommendation despite promotional and education effort to reduce sodium intake. Many studies have identified lack of knowledge and skills in sodium reduction among individuals as one of the major barriers for the sodium reduction practice. Self-care management for long term reduced sodium practice empowerment is not the primary focus of recommendation by health care providers. Conventional dietary sodium education delivered by health care providers is deemed to be too general, directive and lack of individualistic approach. Hence, a new innovative for advanced sodium learning – sodium counting, has been introduced to equip health care providers especially dietitians with knowledge of sodium content in the food, with the intention that, this knowledge will translate into practice to support individualistic dietary sodium reduction management. The original objective of this approach is to assist dietitians during nutrition assessment and nutrition education. The sodium counting approach conceptualised 200mg sodium as 1-point sodium and convert basic food group based on point-sodium which allow dietitians to estimate dietary sodium in food using point sodium. ​

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