5 ways to cut down on salt in your daily diet during pregnancy and after birth

According to Vietnam's National Institute of Nutrition, Vietnamese people consume about 9.4g of salt a day, twice the World Health Organization's recommendation of 5g/day. As a result, non-communicable diseases such as high blood pressure and heart disease are increasingly common. Today, let's find out with Momby how to cut down on salt in your diet . Content advised and reviewed by Dr Le Pham Anh Vy, Specialist Level I, Head of the Nutrition Department, American International Hospital (AIH)
What is a low-salt diet ?
A low-salt diet means reducing sodium from all sources entering the body, not just reducing table salt. According to the WHO, daily salt intake should be < 5g (or < 2000 mg sodium); for patients with high blood pressure with oedema or heart failure, even less ( 2-4 grams of salt/day)
Gradually reducing the sodium content of food can reduce your taste for salty food over time, helping you form a habit of eating less salty food while still enjoying it.
5 ways to cut down on salt in your diet:
Cook your own food at home:
This helps you control sodium intake from 2 sources (seasoning you add and sodium already in food) .Mums-to-be can refer to the following table to replace part of the salt with other seasonings so that you have < 5g of salt / day

Limit foods high in salt: canned, smoked, dried and salted foods, fermented fish sauces and pastes, processed foods: snacks, instant noodles, sausages, fish balls,...
Cut back on dipping sauces:
Don't keep soy sauce, fish sauce, salt,.. on the dining table, or dilute dipping sauces with vinegar, lime juice or water to get used to it gradually.
Replace part of the salt with seasonings that add aroma and flavour, such as MSG, fermented seasonings (soybean paste) and herbs such as basil, dill, coriander, celery, Vietnamese balm,...
Read food labels to check salt content: Sodium content

References:

• Department of Nutrition - Food Safety, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine (2020) - Nutrition - Medical Publishing House.

• National Institute of Nutrition - Low-salt diets and chronic non-communicable diseases.