“LESS SALT MORE HEALTH”
Coordinator: Prof. Pasquale Strazzullo
Members: Giulia Cairella, Paolo Simonetti, Umberto Scognamiglio, Lanfranco D’Elia, Marika Dello Russo, Paola Sabino, Francesca Garbagnati, Daniela Erba, Veronica Abate e Silvia Lisciani.
The “Less Salt More Health” Working Group (WG) was established in 2007 as the SINU expression of the Intersociety Working Group for the Reduction of Salt Consumption in Italy (GIRCSI), in partnership with other National Scientific Societies and with the World Action on Salt, Sugar and Health organization (WASSH). The WG’s main activity is to promote the reduction of salt consumption at the population level and to support measures that can help to achieve this goal. . The final target of the WG’s action is therefore the population, while intermediate targets are the institutions in charge of health protection, the experts in nutrition, the food industry, the public restoration and the school system. The WG’s strategy has consisted of organizing and/or supporting educational campaigns in favor of salt intake reduction (primarily the WASSH annual campaign), publishing documents (e.g., “focus on” on the Society web site) and scientific articles in national and international scientific journals, and developing appropriate tools to assess citizens’ awareness and behavior regarding salt consumption (SINU Questionnaire). Other activities are the release of lectures and scientific communications at scientific meetings as well as public interviews through the media. The Society WG interacts with public institutions in charge of health protection and no-profit organizations such as ESAN (European Salt Action Network), a forum supported by WHO to favor the exchange of information about the activities conducted in different European countries, and the Ministry of Health (also through collaboration with the “Guadagnare in Salute” program) with the aim to promote an appropriate reformulation of the industrial and artisanal products having a high salt content. To this purpose, the WG Group has recently published a Position Statement endorsed by the Italian Society of Human Nutrition on the high sodium content of foods available on the Italian market as compared with the targets proposed by the World Health Organization in order to enhance the governments’ attention toward the urgent need to promote food reformulation by the industry.
Extensive documentation of the work of the WG can be found in the dedicated section of the Society’s website.
At this stage, the WG is adjusting and expanding its composition and partially redefining its objectives according to the Society Governing Council.