Knowledge and behaviors regarding salt intake in mozambique

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Health education and regulatory measures may contribute to lower population salt intake. Therefore, we aimed to describe knowledge and behaviors related to

salt intake in Mozambique. SUBJECTS/METHODS A cross-sectional evaluation of a representative sample of the population aged 15–64 years (_n_ = 3116) was conducted in 2014/2015, following the

Stepwise Approach to Chronic Disease Risk Factor Surveillance, including a 12-question module for evaluation of dietary salt. RESULTS Three dimensions were identified in the questionnaire,

named “self-reported salt intake”, “knowledge of health effects of salt intake”, and “behaviors for control of salt intake”. A total of 7.4% of the participants perceived that they consumed

too much/far too much salt and 25.9% reported adding salt/salty seasoning often/always to prepared foods. The proportion considering that it was not important to decrease the salt contents

of their diet was 8%, and 16.9% were not aware that high salt intake could be deleterious for health. Prevalences of lack of behaviors for reducing salt intake ranged from 74.9% for not

limiting consumption of processed foods, to 95% for not buying low salt alternatives. There were few differences according to socio-demographic variables, but awareness of hypertension was,

in general, associated with better knowledge and less frequent behaviors likely to contribute to a high salt intake. CONCLUSIONS Most Mozambicans were aware that high salt intake can cause

health problems, but the self-reported salt intake and behaviors for its control show an ample margin for improvement. This study provides evidence to guide population level salt-reducing

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support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, AND PRACTICES RELATED TO DIETARY SALT INTAKE AND ASSOCIATION WITH HYPERTENSION IN MALAYSIA: A

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AFFILIATIONS * Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Av. Salvador Allende 702, Maputo, Mozambique Neusa Jessen & Albertino Damasceno * EPIUnit—Instituto de Saúde Pública,

Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas, no. 135, 4050-600, Porto, Portugal Neusa Jessen, Albertino Damasceno, Milton Severo, Patrícia Padrão & Nuno Lunet * Faculdade de Ciências de

Saúde, Universidade Lurio, Bairro de Marrere, Rua número 4250, Km2.3, Nampula, Mozambique Artur Santos * Departamento de Ciências da Saúde Pública e Forenses e Educação Médica, Faculdade de

Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Alameda Prof. Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319, Porto, Portugal Albertino Damasceno & Nuno Lunet * Unidade de Gestão do Fundo Global—Direção de Planificação

e Cooperação, Ministério da Saúde de Moçambique, Av. Eduardo Mondlane, 1008, Maputo, Mozambique Carla Silva-Matos * Faculdade de Ciências da Nutrição e Alimentação da Universidade do Porto,

Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal Patrícia Padrão Authors * Neusa Jessen View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Artur Santos

View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Albertino Damasceno View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * Carla Silva-Matos View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Milton Severo View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Patrícia Padrão View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Nuno Lunet View author publications You can also search for

this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Neusa Jessen. ETHICS DECLARATIONS CONFLICT OF INTEREST The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Jessen, N., Santos, A., Damasceno, A. _et al._ Knowledge and behaviors regarding salt intake in

Mozambique. _Eur J Clin Nutr_ 72, 1690–1699 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0125-y Download citation * Received: 14 July 2017 * Revised: 20 January 2018 * Accepted: 05 February

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