Even a 3-yr-old knows salt is bad for you!

This article by Newsday should be taken seriously. In countries like UK kids grow up to know that "too much salt is not good for you."

This reminds me of two 3-year-olds who were playing together during the time when Wacko passed on. From nowhere one of them said "do you know Micheal Jackson has died?"

The other little boy answered "yes".

"Why did he die?" asked the other one.

"He ate too much salt" was the answer from a three year old who knew at the age of three that salt can cause heart problems.

Below is the article by Phillip Chidavaenzi of the NewsDay, published March 16 under caption: Salt - 'devastating silent killer'.

Young people in Zimbabwe are at great risk of health complications such as strokes hypertension and heart failures due to excessive, cumulative intake of salt.

It is against this backdrop that since the beginning of this week, the World Action on Salt has been commemorating the global World Salt Awareness Week under the theme "Less Salt Please".

Many Zimbabweans, however, are unaware of the dangers that salt pose to their health. During most weekends at private and public function as well as bars and beer halls, revellers are known to partake of braai meat with large helpings of salt.

Few people appreciate the possibility of having enjoyable flavour in their food with very little servings of salt, according to a Harare-based nutritionist, Mercy Makarawa.

"I think the reason is most people don't really understand the dangers associated with excessive intake of salt. They probably think it's normal to have their food with lots of salt," she said.

She said people who often ate out and enjoyed braai meat were at a greater risk of contracting the salt-induced diseases, which were often lethal.

According to the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, one in every four Zimbabweans suffers from high blood pressure and heart disease largely caused by excessive salt intake while the World Health Organisation (WHO), which came up with new guidelines on salt intake to help address non-communicable diseases, have expressed concern at the high salt intake prevalent in the country.

A Harare-based specialist physician, who declined to be named for professional reasons, said most people had the misconception that only excessive intakes of sugar were dangerous as they created conditions for health complications such as sugar diabetes.

The physician, who attended to many patients suffering from high blood pressure, said salt was now "a devastating silent killer" and people needed to be on guard. It was important, he said, to take salt in small doses and, ideally, it should be applied while the food was still being cooked.

"I have noticed a lot of times that even before someone has tasted their food, they ask for salt. And usually, just the recommended amount of salt would have been applied in the food," she said.

"A lot of food producers use salt primarily as a preservative rather than for its nutritional value," he said. "It is important for consumers to be aware and for products that are not too high in salt content. Foods high in salt have more than 1,5g salt/100g and those with low salt content have 0,1g sodium/100g."

Hen said while one could always control the amount of salt they took in through eating more from home, eating out from food outlets that served salt-laden, unhealthy and preservative-rich foods was risky.

Medical laboratory scientist Tafadzwa Chikasha said there was "a salt addiction" prevalent in the country. He said when a person got used to a high level of salt, eventually they would not be able taste the recommended levels of salt in their food.

"Salt is now an addiction. A person who takes their food with a lot of salt get to a point where they are not able to taste moderate, or acceptable, amounts of salt," he said.

Chikasha said the sodium increases blood pressure because it holds excess fluid in the body and often thickened the blood, creating an added burden on the heart which would have to pump more.

"The thickened blood stresses the heart. When the blood is thicker it means the heart has to use more power to pump it and that's when you have a person suffering from hypertension. The heart now pumps at a higher rate per second and that leads to a shorter lifespan," he said.

Chikasha also said a high salt intake was associated with kidney failure. He said using salt to preserve dried meat, especially in rural areas where there is limited access to refrigeration, was a serious health hazard.

The World Action on Salt and Health campaign was established to curb what has become a global catastrophe.

Makarawa said if people heeded the call to reduce salt intake, the WHO-recommended 5g per day was achievable.

"It is important to reduce the intake of processed foods as they have too much food, even if they seem to taste fine. But what one can easily control is the salt in home-made foods," she said.

Research has shown that breakfast cereals, soups, sauces, cheeses, cakes and biscuits contained more salt than what is recommended. Consumers, however, were often unaware that the amount of sugar in those foods "silenced" the salty taste.