Self-monitoring urinary salt excretion in adults: A novel education program for restricting dietary salt intake

Abstract

Abstract. This study aimed to examine the usefulness of the self-monitoring of urinary salt excretion for educating individuals about the risk of excessive dietary salt intake. The subjects were 30 volunteers (15 men and 15 women) not consuming anti-hypertensive medication. The subjects measured urinary salt excretion at home for 4 weeks using a self-monitoring device. Blood pressure (BP), anthropometric variables and nutritional variables (by a dietary-habits questionnaire) were measured before and after the measurement of urinary salt excretion. Statistical analyses were performed, including paired t-tests, Chi-square test, Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression analysis. In all subjects, the average urinary salt excretion over 4 weeks was 8.05±1.61 g/day and the range (maximum-minimum value) was 5.58±2.15 g/day. Salt excretion decreased significantly in weeks 3 and 4 (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively). Diastolic BP decreased from 77.7±14.3 (at baseline) to 74.3±13.3 after 4 weeks (P<0.05), while systolic BP and anthropometric variables remained unchanged. Nutrition surveys indicated that energy intake was correlated with salt intake both before and after the measurements; changes in both variables during the observation period were correlated (r=0.40, P<0.05). The percentage of subjects who were aware of the restriction in dietary salt intake increased from 47 to 90%. In conclusion, daily monitoring of the amount of urinary salt excretion using a selfmonitoring device appears to be an effective educational tool for improving the quality of life of healthy adults.

Long-term compliance with salt restriction assessed using the spot urine method in Japanese cardiology outpatients

“…Because subjective awareness of salt restriction may not necessarily reflect actual salt reduction, monitoring salt excretion appears to be very important for salt reduction. Yasutake et al 9 reported that subjects using a home self-monitoring device demonstrated reduced salt excretion from 8.44 to 8.04 g per day Long-term compliance with salt restriction S Hirota et al over 3 weeks without any specific educational program, which was consistent with our results. The previously reported findings and those of the present study indicate that for instruction to reduce salt intake, assessing salt intake for the individual patient is essential as a first step, although it should be continued long term.…”

A self‐monitoring urinary salt excretion level measurement device for educating young women about salt reduction: A parallel randomized trial involving two groups

“…The results obtained from this device are reliable, and according to our previous careful salt in‐out measurements, they correlate well with measurements based on 24‐hour urine collection . Moreover, this device is useful for supporting salt‐reduction education and it can reduce overnight salt excretion in middle‐ to old‐aged individuals for a short period . However, it is unclear whether this device can be used as a salt‐reduction education tool for young individuals.…”

“…[13][14][15] Moreover, this device is useful for supporting salt-reduction education and it can reduce overnight salt excretion in middle-to old-aged individuals for a short period. 16,17 However, it is unclear whether this device can be used as a salt-reduction education tool for young individuals.…”

Self-monitoring of urinary salt excretion as a method of salt-reduction education: a parallel, randomized trial involving two groups

“…However, the experiment used no control group (17) . In a similar study, Ohta et al collected 24 h urine samples from 103 individuals with hypertension ten times over a 5-year period.…”