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High salt intake is one of the most important causes of some serious health problems. This study aims to evaluate the effects of a salt intake reduction intervention based on social marketing model in Ahwaz city, Iran.

This was a before-after study with a control group using social marketing approach. Two similar residential complexes were chosen and randomly assigned into intervention or control groups. One hundred and thirty women were selected in each complex. Formative research was conducted, including focus group discussions (FGDs), a survey to identify cognitive factors of salt intake and a 24-h urine test to estimate salt intake value. Based on the results of the formative research, an intervention was planned and implemented for one month in the intervention group. The postintervention assessment was conducted repeating the cognitive survey and urine test. Statistical tests, including independent T-Test and paired T-Test, were used to compare the experimental and control groups.

Before the intervention mean salt intake levels were 8,574.41 and 8,282.23 mg/day in the intervention and control groups, respectively. The total mean scores of cognitive and behavioral factors were 25.32 and 26.41 out of 59 in the intervention and control groups, respectively. After the intervention in the intervention group, daily salt intake decreased significantly by 1,558.83 mg/day and mean total scores of cognitive and behavioral factors increased significantly by 10.73.

Due to sodium excretion fluctuations in different days and/or different people, estimating sodium excretion based on one-day sample may have bias. Still, 24-h urine test is the most effective method to estimate population mean salt intake which is used in this study.

The authors could not investigate urine sodium levels in other family members due to resource limitations. Knowing this could help us to see if similar results are achieved.

Despite the lack of public policies to decrease population salt intake, interventions based on social marketing can significantly reduce salt intake. However, the long-term effect of such interventions will require further investigation.

Salt is one of the most valuable substances available to man, with a definitive role in the human body and in food production. However, the continued use or indeed misuse of salt has led to adverse effects on health. The increasing consumption of convenience foods has contributed greatly to a high salt intake. Highly processed, convenience foods are known to contain large quantities of salt to optimise storage stability and flavour acceptability. Current high salt intakes have therefore been attributed to processed foods, accounting for 75‐85 per cent of total salt intake. Such findings and associated health implications have prompted a call from health professionals and food researchers to reduce salt intake. Effective salt reduction, however, can only be achieved with the co‐operation and commitment of the food industry in the development of lower‐salt processed foods.

There has been a dramatic increase in hypertension in developing countries along with changes in food consumption patterns contributing to higher levels of sodium. Evidence shows that a high level of sodium intake is a major cause of high blood pressure and other heart diseases along with other associated diseases. Therefore, it is important to determine current consumption levels of sodium in a population to facilitate the development and implementation of any specific salt reduction program.

The study was conducted among 60 subjects (25-45 years) residing in Jaipur City. Subjects’ sodium consumption levels were assessed via assessment of 24-h urinary sodium excretion levels, the “gold standard” method advocated by WHO/PAHO (2010) and 24-h dietary recall for three days including one holiday.

The findings of the study indicated that the subjects were found to be consuming higher levels of sodium (males, 5,792 mg/d; females, 5,911 mg/d) than recommended by WHO, i.e. less than 2,300 mg/d. Completeness of urine was confirmed by fat-free mass determined by electrical bio-impedance (47.6 ± 7.6 kg) and determined by using 24-h urinary excretion of creatinine (33.7 ± 10.1 kg). Two variables were found to be significantly correlated (r = 0.52, p = 0.00). Assuming that the sodium eliminated in the urine comes from the salt only, this excretion would correspond with a dietary salt intake of 14.71 and 15.01 g/d in males and females, respectively. Dietary sodium intake was reported to be 4,133 ± 1,111 mg/day and 3,953 ± 945 mg/d in males and females, respectively. A non-significant difference was found between the two variables. Urinary sodium excretion correlated non-significantly with systolic and diastolic blood pressure figures (r = 0.09 and r = −0.02, respectively).

The limitations of this study included the small sample size. Purposive sampling was adopted due to difficulty in obtaining urine sample and required willingness of the respondent. This may give fair robust estimate.

The present results will help provide new data about the baseline salt intake in young and middle-aged population of Jaipur City and will further help the concerned agencies to plan meaningful strategies to reduce salt intake, and it must involve public education and awareness to change the consumption pattern.

Increased dietary salt content is one of the effective factors of hypertension and a major public health challenge globally. Although the positive effects of dietary salt reduction on health are universally accepted, people can hardly reduce their salt intake. The purpose of this study is to identify the inhibitory factors of dietary salt reduction among 20–65-year-old women in Yazd City, Iran.

This study was conducted using a deductive content analysis approach based on the communication for the behavioral impact (COMBI) framework. The purposeful sampling method was applied with maximum variation in terms of different educational levels, age groups, occupational status and residential areas to select the participants. Snowball sampling was used to select health-care professionals. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussions were conducted with 31 local women and 11 health-care professionals working in the City until data saturation was achieved. Data were analyzed using Graneheim and Landsman’s method.

After data analysis, 617 initial codes were extracted over the perceived barriers. After merging similar codes, 223 codes were extracted. The barriers were classified into five main categories of family, personal, organizational, educational and socio-cultural barriers.

Based on the COMBI framework, the results demonstrated that the most important barriers for reducing salt intake were negative attitude toward restrictions on dietary salt intake, insufficient and incorrect beliefs about the health risk of salt, lack of family support, inadequate health literacy and low self-efficacy in Yazd City. Among these barriers, lack of family support was considered as the most effective factor in reducing salt consumption. So, by focusing on this area and providing the community with the required education, the amount of salt consumed by families can be reduced.

Common salt (sodium chloride) is essential for life. Animals in the wild sometimes go to great lengths to satisfy their craving for it and we can assume that our early ancestors had similar instinctive needs. This may be the origin of our modern appetite for salt in present day circumstances where it is readily available and is included in many foods for preservation or processing purposes. In any event, the average Western intake exceeds the minimum necessary for survival by a factor of more than 10 to 1, so salt intake is only partially determined by physiological requirements.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of consumer information and advice issued by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) in terms of consumer understanding.

A total of 118 female respondents in Scotland completed a questionnaire investigating their knowledge about the role of dietary salt and testing their understanding of educational material supplied by the FSA.

A significant proportion (p<0.01) of the respondents considered themselves to be health conscious and nutritionally aware, but they were less aware of their salt intake and specific “salt in the diet” details prior to FSA information.

The study is limited to a convenience sample of relatively advantaged consumers, so that further work is required with more vulnerable consumers.

A survey tool was employed that may be adapted to evaluate consumer information campaigns in any area of food policy.

Secondary school children′s knowledge, attitudes and eating habits towards dietary salt (NaC1) were measured by self‐completed questionnaires in schools in Nottinghamshire (East Midlands of England) and analysed on the basis of age and sex. The results showed that a very high proportion (86 to 98 per cent) of children (both boys and girls) add salt to foods, with approximately 70 per cent of the younger children adding salt before tasting. The most popular food to which salt was added was chips (94 per cent of all children) and the least popular were pasta, soup and salad. The majority of the children perceived their own salt intake as medium in level, but this perception did not discriminate between added salt and salt present in processed food, about which their knowledge was fairly poor. Comparison of the sodium (Na) content of pastry samples produced by an in‐house recipe in several Nottingham schools showed them to vary five‐fold, but in every case except one they were lower than the Na level of a commercial pastry mix marketed to school meals authorities. Consideration should be given to a substantial reduction in Na contents of a range of both in‐house recipe foods and prepacked processed foods provided to children in school meals.

Evidence for the harmful effect of salt on the health of adults is growing and is now so overwhelming that government authorities and health experts are recommending that adults should not consume more than 6g of salt a day. However, no such recommendations exist for children. Presents evidence to show that by eating their current high‐salt diet children are storing up health problems for the future. Evidence also exists to show that children’s poor diets are having health implications now, such as worsening of asthma and possibly preventing children from achieving their peak bone mass. Children’s diets have already been shown to increase the risk of obesity, heart disease and other health problems and these problems are being compounded by a high salt intake. Food providers and industry need to follow the lead of most major supermarkets, and gradually start to reduce the level of salt in food provided for both adults and children.

Public health policy has long called for significant reductions in salt intake. To date most research has been confined to processed foods. This approach fails to include the foodservice industry and its impact on population health. The purpose of this paper is to understand perceptions of what responsibility, if any, these professionals felt they had within the public health agenda. International comparisons were made to assess whether previous reductions of salt intake among UK adults was attributable to groundswell attitudinal changes at the chef/manager level, which US counterparts may not have embraced.

This study took the qualitative approach of phenomenology as the research strategy to explore prevailing perceptions of the role and responsibility of food service regarding salt intake. Chefs and managers who deal directly with consumers were given in-depth semi-structured interviews designed to reveal the underlying themes that inform the participant’s perceptions of added salt.

Major findings from both the USA and UK indicate that ground-level chef/managers do not feel a social responsibility to limit public salt consumption. Chef/managers of both countries exhibited little nutritional understanding of the health impacts of salt intake and strong reluctance to make any reductions in salt use in their daily operations. The participants cite a lack of consumer interest and the fear that any salt adjustment would change the food’s sensory acceptability putting them at a competitive disadvantage.

To the authors’ knowledge this is the first study to examine professional foodservice personnel’s perceptions and knowledge of salt intake and the public health perspective.

This paper aims to examine and assess the sodium content in various pre-packed bread products marketed in three cities, Muscat, Morgantown (West Virginia) and Stockholm, and in combination with spread products. It also aims to investigate the pattern of public consumption of bread in Muscat.

A random cross-sectional investigation was followed. This study used the nutrition panel of selected bread and spread products to record sodium content and a close-ended questionnaire.

The mean sodium content in 100 g of bread marketed in Muscat was significantly lower than that in Morgantown (p < 0.001) and Stockholm (p < 0.022). The intake of 100 g of any bread type with 40 g of cheese spread will offer more than 20 per cent of the recommended daily intake of sodium, which poses a health risk upon frequent consumption. Results from the survey conducted in Muscat showed that most of the people consume bread in breakfast and the average amount of bread consumed per day was reported to be 100 g. Only 74.9 per cent of the participants knew that salt is added in the making of bread.

This research is of a value to food policymakers in relation to the use of salt (sodium) in bread. Sodium content in bread products varied significantly in the selected markets. Daily consumption of bread with cheese spreads should be either reduced or avoided by children because of high sodium content. Average intake of 100 g bread per day by participants in the survey is an indicator of a reduced exposure to sodium.