Jamaicans are consuming more than the recommended sodium intake, despite warnings from health officials and amid growing concerns regarding local statistics related to hypertension.

Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton revealed that the average intake of salt in Jamaica is almost twice as high as the recommended level of intake, contributing to high blood pressure among members of the population while putting them at increased risk of heart disease and stroke.  

The minister was speaking at the media launch of the 66th Annual Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) Health Research Conference in Kingston earlier today (September 6).

 “Sixty-seven per cent, or two out of every three Jamaicans, consume more than the recommended sodium intake, which is about 3.6 grams daily, above the recommended level of two grams daily,” the minister noted, while referencing findings from phase one of the $13-million salt study, commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Wellness last year.

The study, which is being led by Professor Trevor Ferguson, director, Epidemiology Research Unit at the Caribbean Institute for Health Research, also showed that:

• 73% of males have higher than recommended levels of sodium intake, with prevalence highest among men aged 45-54 years.
• 60.7% of females have higher than recommended levels of sodium intake, with prevalence greatest among those 35-44 years.

An ongoing trend

 It is important to note that the estimated mean sodium consumption suggests a pattern of high sodium and low potassium consumption for almost 30 years, with results reported from phase one of the study similar to those from the Spanish Town Cohort Study of the 1990s. This is showing that nothing much has changed over the years in terms of how Jamaicans use salt.

“Indeed, the majority of adult Jamaicans have diets high in sodium and low in potassium, requiring urgent public health interventions to reduce salt consumption and increase potassium intake to address the burden of hypertension and cardiovascular disease,” Tufton noted.

The salt study comes against the background of concerning statistics for hypertension (high blood pressure) among Jamaicans.

It is reported that one in three Jamaicans are hypertensive – 35.8 per cent women and 31.7 per cent men, according to the Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey for 2016/17, while four out of every 10 people with the disease are unaware of their status – 60 per cent men and 26 per cent women.

At the same time, more and more Jamaicans aged 15 to 74 years old are developing hypertension.

In 2017, 31.5 per cent of persons in this age group had high blood pressure compared to 20.9 per cent in 2001.