Sri Lankan nutritionists confer on reduction of daily salt intake
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From left to right –Vice President, International Union of Nutrition Sciences Dr. V. Prakash, Director – Environmental, Occupational Health and Food Safety, Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Dr. L. Gamlath, President, Nutrition Society of Sri Lanka, Visakha Siriwardena, Director, Non-Communicable Disease Unit, Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, Dr. Thilak Siriwardena and South Asia R&D Director- Foods, Unilever Dr. Andre Pots.
The International Union of Nutrition Sciences (IUNS), in partnership with the Nutrition Society of Sri Lanka and Unilever, hosted a conference on April 25 in Colombo, to gain insights and identify key challenges in reducing salt in the diet of Sri Lankans. Reducing a person’s daily intake of salt is widely recommended by scientific and regulatory organisations the world over as an important measure in reducing the risk of non-communicable diseases. Those in attendance at the event represented the processed food industry, nutrition related professionals, consumer groups and policy makers.
While the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended daily salt intake is 5g, this is vastly contrasted to Sri Lankans, who consume about 11.4g of salt per day. The conference aimed to tackle this issue by brokering a greater understanding and consensus amongst the government, food manufacturers and professionals.
President of the Nutrition Society of Sri Lanka, Visakha Thilekarathna said, “The purpose of this conference was to bring all key stakeholders together to develop a concerted effort to reduce salt from the Sri Lankan diet. We are extremely encouraged by the commitment from the government and all the stakeholders who participated today and we’re quite confident that we can take forward concrete actions from today’s meeting.”
Unilever Sri Lanka played the role of corporate facilitator at the conference, with no brand promotions, recognising its alignment to Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan, which aims to help 1 billion people improve their health and wellbeing.
“Unilever is proud to support this initiative which is perfectly aligned with our values and objectives. We recognised the importance of reducing the daily salt intake more than a decade ago, and have been working to reduce salt in our portfolio of products. We are glad to see the overwhelming participation of all parties to increase consumer awareness on this subject. Salt reduction in products by food manufacturers is a must but is only one part of the solution. A joint effort from nutritionists, health professionals and authorities is required to ensure a long term healthy salt consumption,” said Dr. Andre Pots, Research & Development Director at Unilever Foods, South Asia.
An action plan was agreed upon all those involved with clear areas of responsibility and avenues for progress.