Big apple goes low on salt, what about Ahmedabad?

Cutting down on salt consumption seems to be the new health mantra for New Yokers who have already started working towards this. But Amdavadis still need to wake up to the health hazards of excessive salt consumption. Health officials in New York have battled trans-fat and high-calorie fast food. Now, they’re taking on salt. The New York health department plans to release draft guidelines suggesting the maximum amount of salt that should be in a variety of manufactured and packaged foods.

The recommendations call for sizeable reductions in sodium content of many products, from a 20% drop in peanut butter to a 40% decline in canned vegetables.

Ahmedabad, too, needs such guidelines as, over the years, the situation in the city has been getting worse. The number of young people suffering from hypertension is on the rise, and this is attributed mainly to high consumption of salt. Dr Manish Agarwal, an Ahmedabad-based cardiologist, said, “Earlier, the patients who came to us with hypertension were usually in their late forties or fifties. But now many in their thirties also have this condition.”

This is alarming in itself, but the situation is getting worse because people consume a lot of junk food much of which contains high levels of sodium, said Agarwal. “Also, around 50% of the people having the condition are unaware that they have high blood pressure.”

Dr Aalap Shah, who runs a multi-specialty physiotherapy centre in Ahmedabad, said that very few people know that salt is also to blame for obesity. Unlike New York’s recent ban on trans-fat in restaurant food or rules implemented last year, requiring chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus, this is voluntary.

Though there will be no penalty for companies that ignore the guidelines, officials believe manufacturers may be motivated.