St JAMES, Jamaica – Medical Officer of Health for Westmoreland, Dr Marcia Graham, is encouraging residents of the parish to use less salt when preparing their meals, as a diet high in salt could cause health issues.

Graham’s comments were in honour of Salt Awareness Week, which is being observed from March 14 to March 20 under the theme ‘Shake the habit!’.

She advised people to, instead, use more natural herbs and spices, to add flavour to their food.

“A lot of us have a habit of adding salt to the food before we even taste it and that’s not good. Salt is linked to higher blood pressure and when your blood pressure is up it can affect your kidneys and your heart; it can cause a lot of problems,” she pointed out.

Graham was addressing the monthly meeting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation in Savanna-la-Mar on March 10.

She noted that the recommended daily intake of salt is one teaspoon per day, so persons should read food labels carefully to ensure that they are not exceeding the daily salt-consumption limit.

“Read your labels. For food you are eating out of tins, look for ‘Na’, [which means] sodium, because sodium is used as a preservative and that automatically already adds salt to your food. So, let’s be careful,” she said.

Graham noted that if people reduce their salt intake, their taste buds will adjust to the lower levels in about three weeks.

A high salt diet can also contribute to cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, stomach cancer, kidney disease, renal stones, asthma, diabetes, and obesity.