Cut back on sodium intake to live well and longer with or without kidney disease
 
As data by the Nephrology Society of Thailand (NST) shows Thai people on average consume sodium twice the level they should, it is now more necessary than ever to carry out a public campaign aimed at curbing consumers’ daily sodium intake and risk of developing diseases associated with salty food eating habits, especially kidney failure.
“Habit and attitude change [to eat less salty food] will be an important mechanism for preventing diseases [associated with high sodium consumption],” said Dr Sakchai Kanjanawatana, secretary-general of the National Health Security Office (NHSO).


 
“We will therefore have to campaign for consumers to cut back on their sodium intake by at least half,” he said, marking World Kidney Day 2021 on March 11.
 
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned member countries to reduce their sodium consumption rates by 30%, said Assoc Prof Dr Surasak Kantachuvesiri, president of the NST.
 
Excessive salt intake can lead to high blood pressure (hypertension), stroke, ischemic heart disease and kidney disease, which means consuming less salt will help save tens of billions of baht in state healthcare budget per year, he said.
 
In Thailand there are about 22 million people with health problems associated with salty food eating, as the average rate of salt and sodium consumption is 3,600 milligram per day, or twice the proper sodium intake a person should get, he said.
 
According to a guideline by WHO, the highest overall sodium intake per day per person shouldn’t exceed 2,000mg.
 
“A vast majority of Thai people tend to like eating salty food, especially the people in the South where the average sodium consumption rate is a lot higher than those of other regions,” he said.
 
About 8 million people have kidney disease, 13 million people have high blood pressure, 25 million others have heart disease and paralysis, and the other 5 million have diabetes, he said.
 
Each year about 40,000 people die of heart disease, while the average age of patients diagnosed with kidney disease is decreasing, he said, adding that these health problems are linked with the high consumption rate of salty food, particularly instant food and snacks.
 
Kidney disease becomes a high-cost health problem when reaching a stage where the patient requires kidney dialysis or a kidney transplant, he said.
 
Kidney dialysis costs at least 200,000 baht per person per year, while those undergoing a kidney transplant will need immunosuppressants, drugs or medicines that lower the body's ability to reject a transplanted organ, for the rest of their lives, he said.
 
These factors cost Thailand’s three healthcare schemes altogether more than 20 billion baht in additional expenses, he said.
 
The three schemes are the Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme (CSMBS) for civil servants and their families, Social Security Scheme (SSS) for private employees, and the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS).
 
These health problems actually can be prevented by such as adjusting eating and drinking habits, he said.
 
Drinking plenty of clean water, cutting back on eating salty food, stop drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes, and using herbal medicines properly will help prevent and delay kidney degeneration, he said.
 
Reducing salt consumption by 10%, deaths linked with this bad eating habit will be reduced by up to 30%, he said, adding that this disease prevention measure will lead to a large decrease in healthcare costs in the next decade.
 
As for food producers, he said, they will possibly be required to display a more legible label on their products to inform consumers about nutrition facts, including information about calories and the sodium contain in the products.
 
A written health warning message such as “Eating too much salty food is bad for your heath” will possibly be required to be included into food labels, as part of a public campaign to raise public awareness over the need to reduce use of condiments, he said.
 
State agencies concerned should also come up with financial measures to make healthy food cheaper than the types of food that actually harm the health of people, he said.
These government organisations are also encouraged to conduct campaigns for food makers to lower the salt content of their products and educate consumers more about harmful health effects of the salty food eating habit, he said.
 
This year’s Thai theme of World Kidney Day, is Change Your Attitude and Habits to Live Longer with Kidney Failure , said Dr Sakchai.
 


The global theme is “Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere: Living Well with Kidney Disease”.
 
Both the Social Security Office (SSO) and the NHSO assured they have a highly effective system to take good care of kidney patients registered under their healthcare schemes. 
About 20,000 kidney patients needing kidney dialysis are covered by the SSS, which costs about 3 billion baht per year, said Nonglak Koworakun, acting director of Medical Service System Management Bureau of the SSO.
 


“So, patients with end-stage renal disease need not to worry about this healthcare service. However, although how strongly we are committed to providing kidney dialysis to these patients as long as they need it, we don’t actually want to see more kidney patients [develop end-stage kidney failure],” she said.
 
Disease prevention always is the best course of action when dealing with kidney disease that requires high-cost treatment, said Kanitsak Chantharaphiphat, director of the NHSO's secondary and tertiary service system support office.