S’poreans eating too much salt, more than one in three now has high blood pressure
But there is some good news: The war on sugar seems to be having an impact, with diabetes and high cholesterol figures down a shade.
Nine in 10 Singaporeans are consuming too much salt, and the rate of hypertension has almost doubled since 2010, the latest data shows.
More than a third of people now suffer from high blood pressure, raising the danger of heart disease and stroke.
Adding to their health risks, people are eating more and moving less.
“As of now, we are not winning the battle on lifestyles,” said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Wednesday.
“Chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and high blood cholesterol are consequences of our lifestyles, especially eating habits,” he added.
“We are what we eat. Food can be medicine if we eat well, but it can be poison if we do not,” he said at the launch of Project Reset, a major cardiovascular research project.
It is a five-year government-funded research initiative seeking to gain a deeper understanding of the population’s metabolism, heart and liver health, and lifestyle behaviour, to prevent heart diseases including heart attack and stroke.
According to the latest national health and nutrition report cards for Singapore released on Wednesday, salt intake rose from 3,480mg in 2019 to 3,620mg in 2022, far beyond the recommended daily allowance of 2,000mg.
Over three in five people (61 %) have surpassed their calorie intake in 2022, compared with more than one in two (55 %) in 2019. When it comes to getting physical, only about seven in 10 (74.9 %) in 2022 were up and active, compared with more than eight in 10 (84.6 %) in 2019.
But there is some good news: The war on sugar seems to be having an impact, with diabetes and high cholesterol figures down a shade.
Nonetheless, an average of six people are diagnosed with kidney failure each day and require dialysis – diabetes is a major cause of this.
More can be done to manage excessive consumption of sugar and salt – the two most common nutrients that cause the most health problems stressed Ong.
The Ministry of Health (MOH), through the Health Promotion Board (HPB), will be making a bigger push to shift dietary habits.
This includes making less sugar – “siew dai” in local parlance – in drinks the default option at coffee shops and other outlets, so people have to ask for full sugar, rather than the reverse.
HPB is also working with industry partners to lower sugar levels and declare war on sodium. Its Nutri-Grade, a mandatory nutrition label with four colour-coded grades, will cover freshly prepared drinks by the end of 2023.
When it comes to salt, the board is ramping up its schemes to support research and development, marketing and trade promotions to increase the supply of affordable healthier alternatives, and getting manufacturers and food retailers to reduce sodium in foods.
MOH is also considering regulations to reduce sodium content in food, including labelling similar to the Nutri-Grade label for sugar.
Ong said products that exceed the stipulated sodium threshold in Chile have a “higher in sodium” warning label. In Finland, sodium limits are regulated for selected packaged food items that are the main contributors of sodium in its population’s daily diet.
Both measures have worked and Ong said Singapore will draw lessons from them to consider what would be suitable to implement in the local context.
Judith Tan
The Straits Times
Asia News Network
