Scaling Up and Evaluating Salt Reduction Policies and Programs in Latin American Countries
Programs and partnerships
Lead institution(s)
Summary
High salt diets are a major cause of high blood pressure, a leading risk factor for death, and account for close to two-thirds of strokes and one-half of heart disease incidents worldwide.Read more
High salt diets are a major cause of high blood pressure, a leading risk factor for death, and account for close to two-thirds of strokes and one-half of heart disease incidents worldwide. This project will address Latin America's high blood pressure rates through research that will strengthen and expand existing salt reduction programs. The project will also introduce new programs in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Paraguay, and Peru. Sodium reduction policy options The Costa Rican Institute of Research and Teaching in Nutrition and Health's A. Blanco Metzler will lead the project. Metzler is working on an IDRC-funded project on salt reduction. The research team will identify public policy innovations for sodium reduction in food systems in the five project countries. The goal is to promote healthy diets that are lower in sodium. The research team will -assess and compare sodium content of food in the five countries -analyze the health and economic benefits of population-wide sodium reduction -assess the drivers and barriers for consumers to change -develop social marketing strategies -evaluate the success indicators for initiatives and partnerships Knowledge translation and awareness Project results will help strengthen abilities in the governmental and non-governmental sectors to inform and influence policy change, while increasing consumer awareness in the region. The project team will leverage the research through the Pan American Health Organization's SaltSmart Consortium. It aims to reduce dietary salt intake across the Americas to levels of less than 5 grams per day, as recommended by the World Health Organization. This project includes a knowledge translation strategy that will promote optimal reach, uptake, and adoption of research findings. The strategy will also provide the basis for a broader application to healthy diets to help reduce non-communicable diseases in Latin America.
Research outputs
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High blood pressure and other non-communicable diseases associated with excessive salt/sodium consumption represent a major challenge to the health of the world’s population. Consumption is a human behavior that is usually influenced by both internal and external factors. The design of a national social marketing intervention is described. Its purpose is to promote changes in this behavior, through gradual reduction of salt/sodium consumption in the target populations of Costa Rica. By analyzing research data, marketing mix components were determined for designing the intervention. The marketing strategy is promotional and is based on encouraging a natural diet with less sodium using natural seasonings and adding less discretional salt and high-sodium products in the preparation of food and dishes. The primary key audience is the mother of the school-aged child, and the secondary is the adult caregivers of this child. It is expected that in the short term, health promoters from different government and non-state sectors will contribute to the implementation of the national social marketing plan, to achieve, in the medium or long term, a consumption that approaches five grams of salt per person per day.
New regulatory policies for the use of food labelling should be used to improve children’s health at the population level. The study provides information about marketing to kids (M2K) found in labeling of processed and ultra-processed food products sold in a supermarket chain (in Lima, Peru) and to determine how labeling relates to critical nutrient content. Children choose their favourite product based on packaging, specifically on colors and drawings which influence their perception of which product is “healthiest.” The study contributes to evidence-based decision making in policy processes.
Excess dietary sodium is a global public health priority, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where rates of hypertension and cardiovascular disease are high. The International Development Research Centre funded a research consortium of five Latin American countries (LAC) to inform public health policy for dietary sodium reduction (2016-2020). The objective of this study was to determine the outcomes of this funding on short-term (e.g., research, capacity building) and intermediary outcomes (e.g., policies). A summative program evaluation was conducted, using a logic model and multiple data sources including document review, surveys, and interviews. Researchers from Argentina, Costa Rica, Brazil, Peru, and Paraguay produced a significant amount of scientific evidence to guide decision making on sodium policy related to its content in foods, consumer behaviors (social marketing), and the health and economic benefits of dietary reduction. A substantive number of knowledge translation products were produced. The funding enabled training opportunities for researchers who developed skills that can be scaled-up to other critical nutrients and health issues. It was unexpected that intermediary policy changes would occur, however several countries demonstrated early policy improvements derived from this research. A funded research consortium of LAC is a practical approach to invoke policy innovations.
