A survey of Chinese consumers’ knowledge, beliefs and behavioural intentions regarding salt intake and salt reduction

Abstract

Objective:Globally, China is among the ‘saltiest’ nations. In order to support current nationwide salt reduction initiatives, we investigated Chinese consumers’ knowledge, beliefs and behaviours related to salt intake and salt reduction.Design:A cross-sectional face-to-face survey was carried out, focusing on salt knowledge, beliefs and behaviours related to salt intake and salt reduction, perceptions of salt reduction responsibility and support for different national strategies.Setting:The survey was carried out in China mainland.Participants:Consumers (n 2444) from six of seven major geographical regions in China participated in the survey. After data cleaning, a sample of 2430 was included in the final analysis.Results:A majority of Chinese consumers believed that salt added during home cooking was the biggest contributor to their salt intake. Knowledge gaps existed in the awareness of salt hidden in certain foods and flavouring products. Chinese consumers in general were interested in lowering their salt intake. They were aware of salt reduction tools, but the adoption level was low. Consumers expressed strong support for promotion of salt-restriction spoons and public education, but not fiscal policies (e.g. salt-related tax or subsidies). In terms of individual differences, education status demonstrated a substantial impact on salt reduction knowledge and behaviour.Conclusions:There is still big room to ‘shake’ Chinese consumers’ salt habit. The present study provides important evidence and consumer insights to support China’s efforts to meet its salt reduction targets.

Comparison of Salt-Related Knowledge and Behaviors Status of WeChat Users between 2019 and 2020

“…In most families of China, female are responsible for cooking, and they care about the healthy diet of family members, which may lead to more attention to salt-related knowledge. It was reported that better-educated people, females and young people were more knowledgeable about salt-reduction tips [33]; a similar result was found in this study, and the salt-related knowledge of the 45-years-old-and-below group was higher than those in over-45-years-old group. It should be noted that low salt-related knowledge, salt reduction score and highsalt intake behavior score were found in the hypertension patients group in this study.…”

“…This study found that the percentage of WeChat users who had the willingness of reducing the amount of cooking salt in their households was quite high between 2019 and 2020 in China, but the awareness level of salt-related knowledge varied greatly, similar to the result of a survey of 2444 Chinese consumers in 2017 [33]. Over 60% of participants knew all four provided condiments contain salt and should be used less or three types of diseases related to excessive salt intake, but lower than 25% of participants knew all the five foods listed contain salt in this study.…”

“…Soy sauce, oyster sauce, bean paste and MSG are four condiments commonly used in daily life with high sodium content [ 34 ], but only less than 64% of participants believed all four condiments contain salt and should be used less. The relationship between salt intake and blood pressure has been confirmed and is widely publicized [ 7 , 28 , 29 ]; 98% of participants in this study knew that excessive salt intake would increase the risk of hypertension in 2019 and 2020, the percentages of participants who knew that excessive salt intake would increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure, heart diseases and stroke were all higher than those of Chinese consumers in 2017 [ 33 ], older rural Chinese adults in 2010 [ 36 ] and even Chinese hypertensive patients [ 37 ]. Obviously, the harmful effects of high salt intake have been widely accepted by Chinese residents.…”

“…Females and better-educated people were more likely to have higher levels of saltrelated knowledge, and they were more interested in and more active in salt reduction [21,25,33,48]. In this study, it was also found that in both 2019 and 2020, higher education levels came with higher scores of salt-related knowledge and salt reduction behaviors; females had higher salt-related knowledge scores and relatively lower high-salt intake behavior scores, but the salt reduction behavior score did not differ by gender.…”

“…There is hidden salt in foods like fine dried noodles, bread, biscuit, cheese and ice cream. Over 80% of participants knew fine dried noodles contains salt in 2019 and 2020, higher than 40.8% of knowing dragon beard noodles (a kind of fine dried noodles) contains salt in 2017 [ 33 ], but lower than 30% knew ice cream contains salt, which may be due to the sweetness and low sodium content of ice cream [ 34 ]. Unlike western countries, the main sources of sodium in China residents are cooking salt, soy sauce and other condiments; most come from home cooking [ 14 , 35 ].…”