Delhi: High salt intake can lead to chronic illnesses, say experts
Director General of Health Sciences (DGHS) Atul Goel on Sunday raised concerns over the impact of medicines with sodium content on a human body.
At a workshop on ‘Capacity building of physicians and salt reduction and low sodium salt substitute’ organised by Delhi Medical Association, Goel said, “A lot of injectables that are being used actually have sodium and potassium in high quantities. Many medicines that are used have an impact on sodium. For example, antihypertensive medications, especially diuretics, can help reduce sodium levels in the body.”
He said that everything in moderation was good for the human body.
“My first worry is how does the common man measure his salt intake and limit it to 2 milligrams, 5 milligrams or 10 milligrams. It is very easy for us to say in research papers or as physicians; if I ask my patient to reduce salt to 2 milligrams, what does he do? Does he measure it? Does he base salt on an everyday basis? The second worry is the impact of modern medicine on salt,” he said.
Elucidating his experience, Goel said he had seen patients dying of hyponatremia in the emergencies of government hospitals without even being diagnosed.
Hyponatremia refers to a condition where the level of sodium in the blood is abnormally low.
“Because you know without any supervision, they have been taking their anti-hypertensive drugs. The requirement of anti-hypertensive drugs goes down in summers and it increases in winters,” he said.
Experts say high salt intake is directly linked to increased risk of several chronic diseases, primarily due to its impact on blood pressure.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which include heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease, are collectively responsible for 74 per cent of all deaths worldwide.
Several studies show that excessive sodium consumption is a key risk factor for developing hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.
At the same event, Dr Vinod K Paul, member (Health) Niti Aayog, said the spread of non-communicable diseases (NCD) was an area that required experience.
“This is an area which calls for deep thinking and vast effort. In the space of NCD at population level, we don’t find major effort or successes in primary prevention. We are looking at the consequences of NCDs on the organ system. What should be our strategies? Our efforts on primary prevention have been low,” he said.
“Thirty per cent of individuals above the age of 30 are hypertensive. I hear little about chronic kidney disease and chronic liver disease. High sugar and high salt are unacceptable,” Paul said.
Delhi