It is well known that salt in the diet is a
major cause of high blood pressure, which in turn is a contributory factor in
strokes and heart disease. It therefore follows that reducing one’s salt intake
is a good idea.
In China this message has been conveyed by
teaching children in primary school about the dangers of salt, and they in turn
have passed this on to their parents and grandparents. The programme began in
14 schools, with follow-up monitoring of their immediate families. This found
that levels of blood pressure showed a marked decline, with daily salt intake
declining by a third of a teaspoon in children and half a teaspoon in adults.
It has been estimated that if this rate of
progress was replicated across the whole country, more than 150,000 deaths from
strokes and 47,000 from heart attacks could be prevented every year.
So could this method of getting kids to
preach the anti-salt message work in other countries? It sounds as though it
could be worth a try!
