Saloon DFGSM2 Listening 2 – Salt and Your Health

Watch the video & take notes on a sheet of paper

 

When you have finished, click on each item below to see the answer.

 

1. Salt consumption facts & figures among the American population:

- 2 to 3 times as much as they should consume per day: needed = 1.5 gr/day, consumed ≅ 4gr
- 15% comes from salt shaker, 10% naturally in foods, 75% put by food industry

2. Health consequences of excessive salt intake:

→ high blood pressure → leads to cardiovascular disease, both silent and deadly

3. Reasons for overconsumption:

- We have a taste for it & tend to buy foods high in sodium and shun those that are not
- Salt is a relatively inexpensive additive
- Salt is added to everything from breakfast cereals to cheeses ← It has preservative qualities, adds texture to the food, & covers up a few bad tastes that are by-products of food processing itself

4. Connection between sodium high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease (CVD):

High BP ← too much blood volume in circulatory system, sodium levels high → concentrated mineral draws more water in and expands blood volume→ volume must be pumped through blood channels, putting extra stress on heart→ volume itself creates expansion pressure on the vessel walls, stressing weak points → occasionally can rupture → if this occurs in a blood vessel in the brain→ stroke

5. People at risk:

- ≅ 30% of the U.S. population has high BP (140/ 90 or >) → ≅ half of the deaths from CVD worldwide + age & race can ↑risk
- ≅ 70% of Americans > 80 yrs have high BP (only 10% between 30 and 39)
- African-Americans 40% more likely than whites to suffer from high BP, 50% more likely to die of heart disease, 80% more likely to die from a stroke

6. Recommendations & expected consequences:

- Seniors & African Americans of all ages: no > 1.5 grams of sodium/day
- Rest of the population: no > 2.3 grams/day
- Would save ≅ 150,000 lives/year over next 10 years

7. What we can do to take more control of our own sodium intake:

- Read the labels: total intake/day of sodium not > 2.3 grams, African Americans & elderly: not > 1.5 grams. Any food with a half a gram or more in the portion to be avoided
- Watch the restaurants (a single meal often contains 4 grams of sodium, free bread on the table is one of the worst offenders!)
- Remove the salt shaker from the table at home
- Accept a little pain. Adjusting to the change happens quickly and the cravings disappear rapidly. Cutting sodium intake in half can ↓ BP 5 points and that ↓ risk of death from heart disease by 9% and from stroke by 14%

8. Play the video with the subtitles then prepare a brief summary, you will have 2 mins to transfer the information to a colleague. Remember to adopt a top-down approach.

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UNF3S
Route 66 to medical literature, Félicie Pastore 2017