Dr Carmelle Mizehoun Adissoda : "Besides high blood pressure, excessive salt intake can lead to stomach cancer .... »

Pharmacist and Nutritionist, Dr Carmelle Mizehoun Adissoda is Nutrition Focal Point of the National Program for the Fight against Non-Communicable Diseases. In this interview with Gaskiyani Info, she returned to the concept of non-communicable diseases and the problems associated with excessive salt consumption.

What are non-communicable diseases? ?

Non-communicable diseases are diseases that are not transmitted from person to person or through a vector such as malaria.. These are not contagious diseases. These diseases are rather due to what we call risk factors. They are also chronic diseases. We suffer from them all our life and very often they are fatal..

What are the risk factors that cause non-communicable diseases ?

We have the factors related to our behaviors, metabolic factors and those called new factors. Indeed, behavioral factors include : alcohol consumption, sedentarization, not practicing physical activity and an unbalanced diet. Ensuite, we have metabolic factors. It's obesity, hypertension or high blood pressure, hyperglycemia or hypercholesterolemia. Finally, new factors are related to environmental pollution.

Which non-communicable diseases can be considered the most dangerous? ?

Among the diseases that we mentioned above, there are four that cause the greatest mortality in the world but also in poor countries. We have cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancers and finally chronic respiratory diseases.

Take the case of cardiovascular diseases. What are the risk factors that cause these diseases ?   

Cardiovascular diseases are those that kill the most and their main risk factor is high blood pressure, which, elle, is a situation of permanently high blood pressure. This disease is also due to many risk factors among which we have the excessive consumption of salt. Salt provides us with sodium and sodium itself is an element that the body needs for its physiological functions.. But when it is brought in excess, it becomes a health hazard.

Can excessive salt consumption cause other diseases besides high blood pressure? ?

In addition to high blood pressure, excessive salt consumption can lead to stomach cancer, asthma and osteoporosis.

So, how much salt is allowed in food preparation ?

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a salt intake of less than 5g per day,  about a teaspoon. To prevent cardiovascular diseases, we have to respect that. Whether it is the salt added in meals or the salt naturally contained in the foods we eat.

What are your recommendations for salt consumers? ? 

We all love salt. It is important to clarify that salt is an acquired taste. The first innate taste or the innate taste that we know, it is the sweet taste because the breast milk that any child has received from its mother is sweet. It was while growing up that we were exposed to the salty taste and that we adopted it. Since it is a given, it's also something you can get rid of. When we consume too much salt today, we have the possibility to switch to a normal or even minimal consumption stage.

How to get there ?

You have to start by taking foods that do not contain too much salt.. We have to be careful what we eat by looking at product labels. Even if all products are not labeled, there are many that specify at least the amount of sodium contained.

When salting a meal, you have to wait completely until the end before adding the salt. It is essential to taste because very often, in what we prepare, we put a lot of salt. It is also necessary to choose ingredients without salt. Broths are concentrated in salt so they must be reduced or completely avoided.. We have our naturally spiced herbs, that enhance the taste of food. We can use them as alternatives to salt.

This is a behavior that can be changed. ?

 You just have to have the will and the motivation. Obviously, it is binding on us because it is about health hazards. It is therefore possible to reduce salt consumption. Already globally, the slogan is : ''Salt, it’s a habit to lose” because we consume it excessively. And even if in the current state, we do not add salt to our food, the salt already hidden in food brings us closer to the recommendations of the World Health Organization. Conclusion, we can do without salt.

                                                        Interview by : Firmin KASSAGA