Reducing salt intakes; 10 tips

Dietary sodium often consumed as common salt (sodium chloride) plays a key role in the body in regulating blood pressure but regularly consuming salt (through dishes, natural and processed foods) above 5g /day i.e. around one teaspoon a day is associated with hypertension. As salt is a high risk factor for hypertension, which is among the leading causes of deaths globally, it is important to make sure we do not exceed this recommended amount of salt. Below are 10 tips to help consume at most 5g/day of salt a day.

For everyone

  1. Use more natural spices such as ginger, garlic, chilli, rosemary, onions, African locust bean (‘dawadawa’), grains of Selim (‘hwentia’), prekese, ‘akokobesa’ among others to meet your taste preference instead of salt.

 2. Cut down and if possible avoid the use of processed spices such as cubes and seasoning powders because they often contain salt in high amounts. 

3. If you have to use salt in cooking, always measure. Do not pour directly into the dish being prepared using the eye as a regulator because you are likely to add more than is needed.

     4. In some countries such as Ghana, salted fish (‘koobi’, ‘momone’) and salted meat (salted pig feet, ‘kako’) are used in cooking. These are high in salt and should you need to use them then;

a.    Soak them in water overnight before use.

b.    Boil them in water before use. Remember not to use the stock.

c.    Use small quantities and/or do not add salt to the dish being prepared.

5. Do not add salt to food at the table as it is injurious to health.

6. Eat and/or use small quantities and if possible avoid processed food products such as processed meat (bacon, ham), crisps as they are high in salt.

7. Read food labels to know the amount of salt (dietary sodium) contained in the food. On food labels, the salt in the food is captured as sodium (at most 2g of sodium intake per day).

For Parents

8. Babies and children under 11 years require lower amounts of salt than the adults. Give your child(ren) a healthy start by

a.    Not adding salt or processed spices to meals being prepared for them as it can be injurious (their kidneys are not able to cope with high intake of salt) to their health. In other words prepare their meals separately.

b.    As salt habitation i.e. the association of salt to taste and hence preference for high salt food is developed during childhood, help kids not to develop a salt habitation by not giving them foods such as crisps

On Hypertension

2   9. Hypertension has no symptoms to help in early detection and treatment so;

a.    Regularly check your blood pressure. It should not be equal to or above 140/90mmHg 

b.    Hypertensive patients or people with high blood pressure should seek advice from a health professional as they require assistance (special diets, medication etc.).

Take home message

10. ‘Food taste’ is not equal to the salt in the food, some naturally occurring foods, water, processed foods contain dietary sodium (salt), and all the salt you will consume in a day should be at most 5g or around one teaspoon. 

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       Facts: WHO

       Photo credit : www.everwell.com

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10 Tips to use alcohol safely, simple Q& A

Are there risks associated with drinking alcohol?

Yes there are. Alcohol consumption is associated with liver problems, reduced fertility, high blood pressure, some cancers and heart attacks.

What amount of alcohol is safe for consumption to prevent these risks?

The truth is, there is no safe limit for drinking alcohol but there are recommendations, which will reduce the risks of the diseases mentioned herein but not prevent them.

What are the recommendations?

Recommendations vary from country to country. In some countries the recommendations are 3-4unit/day for men and 2-3units/day women.  Even with that, we recommend you do not take these amounts on regular basis.  Find out from the professionals in your country or your ministry of Health website. They often have such recommendation.

Wondering what a unit is? 

This picture from BBC News will give you an idea of what a unit of alcohol is

NB: The higher the strength (ABV %), the higher the unit and the larger the volume the higher the units.

Wow! I am exceeding my alcohol intake, are there tips to help me cut down?

Yes there are. Here are 9 tips

1. As we like to achieve a target, setting a limit on the amount of alcohol one drinks, will push you to achieve it.  Remember to take small steps at a time
2. We all need help at one point or other and who can better help us than our family and friends, so tell them about the target you set.
3. Do not stock your fridge with too many alcoholic beverages and if possible not at all, to avoid the temptation of exceeding your limit.
4. Drink a pint of water before you start to drink alcohol, this way you are less likely to drink above your targeted limits.
5. Swap strong strength alcohol drinks (ABV %) with lower strength.
6. Use small glass size for your alcoholic drink.
7. When thirsty quench your thirst with water.
8. Write down the places, events, which contribute to you drinking alcohol and cut down on going to these places.
9. Avoid the company of binge drinkers and if they are your friends, show them this post and encourage one another to cut down on your alcohol drinking habit.

I cannot do this on my own/I know an alcoholic/I want to quit drinking alcohol entirely

10. Seek professional help. The best place is to contact your health service.

Note: Women should avoid alcohol when pregnant

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IMPROVING THE HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM (HIS) OF GHANA

On 26th March this year, when an Ebola alert was issued by Ghana's parliament, I wondered if the alert will reach the forested areas of Ghana from the capital city. A friend who works with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and is based in Ghana's capital couldn't confirm whether or not the alert had reached all corners of the country especially the forested areas. Yesterday, I got an answer to my question from another friend's post on Facebook. This friend's mother is a health personnel who works in one of the rural districts and forested area of Ghana and is yet unaware of the Ebola alert, symptoms of the diseases and the precautionary measures to take.

As expected, she was upset about the inefficiency of the health information system. She felt the ministry of health (MOH) was doing little to disseminate health information especially when health personnel had little or no information on the Ebola virus. But can one blame the HIS of Ghana considering its challenges and the fact that little is being done to rectify its challenges (See Analysis of the state of the nation address below)? The challenges of the HIS may not be the only reason for the weak dissemination of the of Ebola health alert to the public and especially the health workforce. I believe one reason is our approach to communicate health information, like this Ebola alert to  Ghana's entire population.

Too often we are tempted to sew a one size dress and try to fit it to customers of varying sizes probably to save time and cut cost etc.. In the end, we fail to realize these benefits because  not everyone could wear this one size dress. In the case of the Ebola alert, it looks like the MOH may have used social media to disseminate this alert when close to 80% of Ghana's 25 million population is not active on the internet and social media.It may also have used the electronic and print media to disseminate this alert when these weren't the preferred medium of communication among its target audience. Also MOH may not be making use of mobile phone penetration (about 26 million mobile phone users) in the country to send out an SMS alert to Ghana's population. In the end this health alert was not well communicated.There is therefore the need to use the right medium for the right audience as; 

1. it ensures that a message is received and used by the target audience
2. money is saved as one does not spend on the wrong media
3. it prevents delays and saves time and 
4. resource including human resource is effectively and efficiently distributed to avoid losses.

Olime Health therefore believes that moving forward, a thorough research exercise should be conducted by the MOH/GHS into the most effective way to communicate health information to its workforce and the entire population. We expect that there are already procedures for things like this, we therefore suggest an update on those procedures to identify for example the various information needs, audiences with such needs, and the most cost effective way to reach them. In practical terms, such a research exercise will answer questions like 'which type of media works well for the different  age groups, sexes, social status, ethnic groups, geographical locations ? and what is the preferred form of media to be used for each identified audience group. 

This research can be carried out as final year project works of tertiary students to reduce the burden on Ghana's overstretched health workforce and give these students practical work experience while in school. Where and when this research has been conducted, it must be implemented, monitored and evaluated to ensure that the health of all 25 million Ghanaians is being protected as well as see to it that results are being achieved.

Additionally, Olime Health believes MOH needs to collaborate more with the Ministry of Information and Media relations to help disseminate information. It should also collaborate with the ministry of Communication and Technology on how internet usage can be improved to reach the entire population as well as make internet usage affordable for most if not all citizens of Ghana. Other private organizations should also be made partners in securing the health of Ghana. This proposal stems from the recognized fact that the task of securing the health of a nation is a multi-sectoral project as this approach achieves better and faster results.

Today, we can heave a sigh of relief knowing that there's no outbreak of Ebola in Ghana and health personnel like my dear friend's mother and the general  population were not put at risk. But tomorrow can we?

Follow @olimehealth on Twitter for more updates

About Olime Health

________________

Olime Health is a total health brand on a mission of enabling people to choose and 

live healthier lifestyles. The brand advocates for an environment which encourages and supports the health and nutritional wellbeing of people. We approach health from a preventive angle and specialize in research, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, nutritional assessments, food security and interventions. 

PHOTO; uq.edu

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Protecting the Health of Ghanaians - Pt2

This is Part 2 of Olime Health's analysis of the 2014 State of the Nation address. 

Highlights;

• The Government of Ghana is seeking to build a resilient economy to improve and protect the wellbeing of Ghanaians. In order to achieve this, the people of Ghana must be healthy because a healthy people are the major drivers of economic activity.
• Government’s commitment to health is assessed by analyzing sources such as the State of the Nation Address and the budget statement on health among others.
• Though the Government’s stated intention to improve the health delivery system to ensure quality health for all Ghanaians is in the right direction, an action plan to help measure progress is missing. The efforts to improve the health information system are not strong enough and the adequacy of the budget allocation for the health sector is debatable.

MOBILE USERS

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Drop us a comment and let us know what you think.
Having difficulty downloading? Let's drop it in your email instead. Just send a line to olimehealth@gmail.com
All three versions will be available here for free download. Feel free to get in touch if you would like to discuss this further olimehealth@gmail.com.

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Protecting the health of Ghanaians

This is the first part of Olime Health's analysis of the 2014 State of the Nation address here. Download it below;


MOBILE USERS

Use this link to  Download Report . Tap your browser Menu icon and select Request Desktop Site. Then pick File and Download.

Drop us a comment and let us know what you think. Thank you Having difficulty downloading? Let's drop it in your email instead. Just send a line to olimehealth@gmail.com

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