International Symposium on Understanding the Double Burden of Malnutrition for Effective Interventions

Salt reduction in bread among Moroccan population

Not scheduled

15m

Boardroom A (IAEA, Vienna)

Poster Interventions Poster Session 7

Speaker

Mrs Yasmine GUENNOUN (Joint Research Unit in Nutrition and Food, URAC 39( Ibn tofail University-CNESTEN) Regional Designated Center of Nutrition( AFRA-IAEA), Morocco)

Description

**Introduction** High dietary salt (NaCl) intake is a significant risk for hypertension and is associated with the increase in blood pressure related to aging, increased risks of stroke and coronary heart diseases thus a common public health challenge worldwide. To contribute to the achievement of global voluntary targets for non-communicable diseases set by the World of Health Organization and the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), Morocco has developed a plan of reducing salt consumption to combat the non-communicable diseases. The objective of the present study is to assess acceptance of bread with different percentages reduction of salt among the Moroccan population. **Methods** In this study, 201 participants (age >15 y.) were recruited to determine the level of salt reduction in bread. Different salt contents par 100g were tested and compared: 1,74g, 1,62g, 1,56g, 1,46g, 1,34g, 1,21g et 0,81g, corresponding to the reduction of salt of 0%, 7%, 10%, 16%, 23%, 30% and 53%, respectively, compared available bread in local market. Overall liking, “Just About Right” (JAR) and purchase scales was used to score the different salt contents in bread. **Results** Bread with a reduction of 10% and 16% is highly accepted by 76,11% and 78,60% of respondents. Based on JAR score, bread with 10% (1,56g/100g) and 16% (1,62g/100g) of reduction were considered as “just about right’ by 50,54% and 56,92% respectively. Best average score of purchase intent is obtained for salt content in bread of 1,62g and 1,56g for a reduction of 10% and 16% respectively. **Conclusion** Studies on reducing salt intake in foods are part of a comprehensive approach to nutrition, aimed at the prevention of major public health problems and which are clearly multifactorial diseases. This principle has been used in our study, and the results show that reducing salt levels is easily achievable and is acceptable to customers. Bread with a reduction on salt of 10% and 16% is highly accepted by respondents. Food Industry is needed to reduce salt in bread to accompany the national salt reduction strategy in Morocco. Keywords Salt reduction, acceptance, bread, Morocco