Need for coordinated programs to improve global health by optimizing salt and iodine intake Necesidad de programas coordinados para mejorar la salud a escala mundial mediante la optimización de la ingesta de sal y yodo

• Main Authors: Norm R. C. Campbell, Omar Dary, Francesco P. Cappuccio, Lynnette M. Neufeld, Kim B. Harding, Michael B. Zimmermann
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish; Portuguese
• Published: Pan American Health Organization 2012
• Subjects: Sodio; cloruro de sodio dietético; yodo; deficiencia de yodo; nutrición en salud pública; hipertensión; hipotiroidismo; hipertiroidismo; Sodium; sodium chloride; dietary; iodine; iodine deficiency; nutrition; public health; hypertension; hypothyroidism; hyperthyroidism; Medicine; R; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic; Pequeña
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/c9bd710d3fa44ccfa0abd6864342e0a4

High dietary salt is a major cause of increased blood pressure, the leading risk for death worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that salt intake be less than 5 g/day, a goal that only a small proportion of people achieve. Iodine deficiency can cause cognitive and motor impairment and, if severe, hypothyroidism with serious mental and growth retardation. More than 2 billion people worldwide are at risk of iodine deficiency. Preventing iodine deficiency by using salt fortified with iodine is a major global public health success. Programs to reduce dietary salt are technically compatible with programs to prevent iodine deficiency through salt fortification. However, for populations to fully benefit from optimum intake of salt and iodine, the programs must be integrated. This review summarizes the scientific basis for salt reduction and iodine fortification programs, the compatibility of the programs, and the steps that need to be taken by the WHO, national governments, and nongovernmental organizations to ensure that populations fully benefit from optimal intake of salt and iodine. Specifically, expert groups must be convened to help countries implement integrated programs and context-specific case studies of successfully integrated programs; lessons learned need to be compiled and disseminated. Integrated surveillance programs will be more efficient and will enhance current efforts to optimize intake of iodine and salt. For populations to fully benefit, governments need to place a high priority on integrating these two important public health programs. El alto contenido de sal en la dieta es una causa principal de incremento de la presión arterial, el principal factor de riesgo de muerte a escala mundial. La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) ha recomendado que el consumo de sal sea inferior a 5 g/d, una meta que solo logran una pequeña proporción de personas. La falta de yodo puede causar deficiencia cognoscitiva y motora y, si es grave, hipotiroidismo, con grave retraso mental y del ...