Food Consumption, Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Related to Salt in Urban Areas in Five Sub-Saharan African Countries

Leyvraz, Magali; Mizéhoun-Adissoda, Carmelle; Houinato, Dismand; Baldé, N.M.; Damasceno, Albertino; Viswanathan, Bharathi; Amyunzu-Nyamongo, Mary; Owuor, Jared; Bovet, Pascal

doi:10.3390/nu10081028

Cited by 40 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These findings should be a concern for government and health authorities, given that most of the participants believe they consume a moderate amount of salt. Our findings are supported by other studies in developing countries, where less than 15% of participants consider they consume too much salt [31,32].…”

Section: Main Findingssupporting

confidence: 90%

Parents’ Perceptions about Salt Consumption in Urban Areas of Peru: Formative Research for a Social Marketing Strategy

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Salt intakes in Latin America currently double the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 5 g/day. Various strategies to reduce the population’s salt consumption, such as raising awareness using social marketing, have been recommended. This study identified parents’ perceptions of salt consumption to inform a social marketing strategy focused on urban areas in Peru. Methods: Using a sequential exploratory methods design, parents of pre-school children, of high and low socioeconomic status, provided qualitative data in the form of interviews and focus groups. Following this, quantitative data was obtained via questionnaires, which were sent to all parents. The information was analyzed jointly. Results: 296 people (mean age 35.4, 82% women) participated, 64 in the qualitative and 232 in the quantitative phase of the study. Qualitative data from the first phase revealed that the majority of mothers were in charge of cooking, and female participants expressed that cooking was “their duty” as housewives. The qualitative phase also revealed that despite the majority of the participants considered their salt intake as adequate, half of them mentioned that they have tried to reduce salt consumption, and the change in the flavor of the food was stated as the most difficult challenge to continue with such practice. Quantitative data showed that 67% of participants would be willing to reduce their salt intake, and 79.7% recognized that high salt intake causes hypertension. In total, 84% of participants reaffirmed that mothers were in charge of cooking. There were no salient differences in terms of responses provided by participants from high versus low socioeconomic groups. Conclusions: The results point towards the identification of women as a potential target-audience of a social marketing strategy to promote reductions in salt intake in their families and, therefore, a gender-responsive social marketing intervention is recommended.

show abstract

Section: Main Findingssupporting

confidence: 90%

Parents’ Perceptions about Salt Consumption in Urban Areas of Peru: Formative Research for a Social Marketing Strategy

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similarly, some other studies found that people underestimate their salt intake and are unaware of the main sources of salt intake (24)(25)(26). This can be one of the main reasons for getting too much salt.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Using Social Marketing to Reduce Salt Intake in Iran

Layeghiasl

Malekzadeh

Shams

et al. 2020

Front. Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: WHO has recommended that the average salt intake must be <5 grams per day. However, people consume salt much more in many countries. In this study, we design and implement an intervention based on social marketing model to reduce salt consumption in Yasuj, Iran. Materials and Methods: This study employed a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest with control group design which consisted of a formative research (qualitative-quantitative) and an interventional phase. To collect the qualitative data, six focus group discussions by participating of 66 people were established. The qualitative data were analyzed manually using directed content analysis. In quantitative study, 166 people aged 25-50 years completed a KAP questionnaire, and their average salt intake was determined through measuring sodium in their urine sample. By analyzing the data, marketing mix components were determined for designing an intervention. An educational package (including posters for installing in the kitchen, pamphlets, phone counseling, four educational classes, and brief interventions done by physicians and other health personnel) focused on reducing salt intake and using alternatives was developed. For one month, program was implemented for intervention group. Two months later, KAP survey and measuring the urine sodium were repeated for intervention and control groups. The data was compared for two groups, before and after the intervention by using independent t-test, paired t-tests and repeated measures ANOVA. Results: The qualitative findings showed that most participants agreed that the salt intake was high in Iran. Most of them recommended home-based and family-driven strategies to reduce salt intake, offered using healthier alternatives for salt, and recognized physicians and health care providers in healthcare facilities as the most important to encourage people to reduce salt intake. After the intervention, the mean and standard deviation of KAP were improved significantly in intervention group. The mean salt intake decreased significantly by 3.01 ± 2.38 in the intervention group and repeated measures ANOVA showed significant change over time (P < 0.001) and a significant difference between two groups (P = 0.04). Also, the interaction between time and group was significant (P = 0.001). Layeghiasl et al. Social Marketing to Reduce Salt Intake Conclusion: The mean salt intake among the study population was approximately three times more than the level recommended by the WHO. The social marketing-based intervention succeeded in reducing the salt intake of the study subjects by ∼3 grams on average.

show abstract

“…Eleven studies identified in the review assessed KAB. These results suggest that knowledge on the detrimental effects of high salt intake was fairly high among African respondents 25,27,59 . However, this knowledge did not seem to translate into attitudes and practices related to salt intake reduction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…However, this knowledge did not seem to translate into attitudes and practices related to salt intake reduction. For example, participants were frequently unable to correctly identify the maximum recommended daily salt intake, nor were they aware of the link between salt and sodium, and generally did not perceive their salt intake to be high 25,27,32,41,55,56,59 . The latter may contribute to the low proportion of participants who reported adopting practices known to reduce salt consumption observed in the included studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Monitoring and implementation of salt reduction initiatives in Africa: A systematic review

Tekle

Santos

Trieu

et al. 2020

J of Clinical Hypertension

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This systematic review aims to document salt consumption patterns and the implementation status and potential impact of salt reduction initiatives in Africa, from studies published between January 2009 and November 2019. Studies were sourced using MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library electronic databases, and gray literature. Of the 887 records retrieved, 38 studies conducted in 18 African countries were included. Twelve studies measured population salt intake, 11 examined salt level in foods, 11 assessed consumer knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, 1 study evaluated a behavior change intervention, and 3 studies modeled potential health gains and cost savings of salt reduction interventions. The population salt intake studies determined by 24‐hour urine collections showed that the mean (SD) salt intake in African adults ranged from 6.8 (2.2) g to 11.3 (5.4) g/d. Salt levels in foods were generally high, and consumer knowledge was fairly high but did not seem to translate into salt lowering behaviors. Modeling studies showed that interventions for reducing dietary sodium would generate large health gains and cost savings for the health system. Despite this evidence, adoption of population salt reduction strategies in Africa has been slow, and dietary consumption of sodium remains high. Only South Africa adopted legislation in 2016 to reduce population salt intake, but success of this intervention has not yet been fully evaluated. Thus, rigorous evaluation of the salt reduction legislation in South Africa and initiation of salt reduction programs in other African countries will be vital to achieving the targeted 30% reduction in salt intake by 2025.

show abstract

Food Consumption, Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Related to Salt in Urban Areas in Five Sub-Saharan African Countries

Cited by 40 publications

References 27 publications

Parents’ Perceptions about Salt Consumption in Urban Areas of Peru: Formative Research for a Social Marketing Strategy

Parents’ Perceptions about Salt Consumption in Urban Areas of Peru: Formative Research for a Social Marketing Strategy

Using Social Marketing to Reduce Salt Intake in Iran

Monitoring and implementation of salt reduction initiatives in Africa: A systematic review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About