Vietnam Urges Citizens to Consume Less Salt

Vietnam’s Ministry of Health (MoH) on July 23 urged citizens to reduce daily salt consumption by 50%, in order to prevent hypertension and diseases relating to heart and kidney, state media reported. Vietnam currently has 12 million people with hypertension, or about one in every five adults. Besides, among those people with hypertension, 80% do not receive treatment. The MoH also urged localities to conduct more propaganda to improve citizens’ awareness of this problem. A survey in 2015 showed that 90% of Vietnamese people consumed 10 grams of salt daily, or twice the recommendations of five grams per day by the World Health Organization. (VnExpress, VnExpress, Lao Dong, Kenh14, CafeF)