Approaches To Regulate Sodium Intake And Increase Fruit And Vegetable Consumption At Population Level

Regulating Sodium Consumption Through Law and Policy Enactments

The Australian Health Survey 2011-2012 found that nearly two in every three people aged two years and over had a usual intake of sodium that exceeded the Upper Limit (UL). Intakes of sodium were also consistently higher for males than females.

At a population level, how do you think sodium intakes could decrease so that more people are meeting, (or at least not exceeding) the recommendations?

Sodium intake has been critical aspect in ensuring public health safety is guaranteed. Approaches that could be used to enhance and regulate sodium intake at a population level include;

 Law and policy enactments regulating sodium consumption. This can inform public health education among the consumers on the required levels of sodium intake. Processed food manufactured can be regulated to prepare foods with the recommended standards of sodium in the food.

Menu labelling and warnings could also be used to provide information to the consumers so as to give warning before any consumption this will go hand in hand with public health education on healthy foods intake.

Introduction of litigation measures could also be introduced to guide and govern food processing factories and restaurants in a bid to ensure that adherence to the set standards is achieved.

What improvements in population health do you think we would see if population-level intakes could be decreased to meet the recommendations? Use evidence to support your answer.

Attention globally has shifted towards sodium reduction. Several countries have undertaken approaches to reduce sodium intake among the population. These approaches included the mentioned above, which entail food industries regulation, labels and warning signs and public awareness. Research has shown that among 37 countries that have implemented this plan of action, only Portugal has enforced regulations, (Nainggolan, 2013), while other countries have relied on  industry based negotiation and have yielded mixed reactions. In Finland, voluntary programs have shown indicated 25% decrease in individual daily consumption pattern of sodium, (Blais et). While countries such as Hungary and Estonia have expressed difficulty in such regulations, there has been lack of co-operation from industry players, (Webster, 2011).

• However further studies conducted in Australia have shown mandatory regulation have shown that there is higher benefits of greater than 20 times than voluntary action through government regulation to regulate sodium could be significant, (Cobiac et al, 2010).
• How and why would the types of food you ate change if you lived in a remote area? Provide evidence to support your answer.

Check the foods you eat often in the Food Frequency Questionnaire to use as examples in your answer. (~150 words, 10 marks)

• Food is concerned with practices, attitudes and beliefs surrounding the production of and distribution of food culture. Food consumption reflects community identitiy, status, values power, artistry and creativity in any given population set up. Often food depicts a certain culture and hence my departure to a remote area will significantly change.
• Foods which i frequently consume include the Indian cuisine which entails from spicy foods, herbs, vegetables and fruits. Thus my relocation to remote area will significantly change. In a remote area, the common fresh vegetables will change and variety will change since getting a regular supply of various foods aren’t available readily.
• Research has shown that food remote areas often exhibit lack of food variety in terms of consumptions patterns and hence there is need for improving the variability of the food to ensure adequacy, (Youselfian et al., 2011)

1. Questions 4 and 5 ask about your daily vegetable and fruit intake.
2. How does your intake compare with the Australian Dietary Guidelines (1) for your gender and age group?

My intake of fruits and vegetables is often hampered by the inability to meet the daily required intakes. There is limited intake of fruits and vegetables across my country, and this has been facilitated by a phyto nutrient report, which states there is disparity on consumption of fruits of fruits and vegetables.

• Compared to Australia dietary recommendation on fruits and vegetables, which recommends a quarter serving of a plate to be made fruits and vegetables at any particular serving. Thus is contrary to my eating habits which I don’t meet the set guidelines.
• What are two health benefits of meeting the guidelines for vegetable and fruit intake? Use evidence to support your answer. (~150 words, 10 marks)

Regulating Processed Foods with Recommended Standards of Sodium in Food

Vegetables and fruits are crucial in provision of dietary fibre and supply of phyto nutrients. Dietary intake of fruits and vegetables are crucial in ensuring protection against chronic disease, strokes and even cancers.

The scientific prove of consumption of fruits and vegetables has attributed for protection of the body in different ways. Vegetables such as broccoli and spinach, orange vegetables such as pumpkin and carrots and yellow and red vegetables like capsicum have shown to contain high levels of phyto nutrients.

Question 8 asks about discretionary food items and question 10 asks about the importance of activities related to health. How well aligned do you think your answers are? Do your answers in Q10 influence your response in Q8 or vice versa?  What changes could you make to improve the quality of your diet? If you would not make any changes to your diet, why is this so? (~150 words, 10 marks)

Discretional food items are not healthy in the first essence; hence they influence my choice of food intake and consumption patterns. Changes that I could adopt for a healthy diet include selecting healthy foods which are nutritious and rich in phyto nutrients. I will tend to consume more of vegetables and limit intake of processed foods as they are of low biological value.

My answers in approaching this question seem to reflect on un healthy lifestyle on food consumption thus this answers influence my overall responses in the preceding questions.

My intake of vegetables and fruits will reflect more so of Australian based guidelines which seeks to enhance a strong and healthy body. My food intake will be characterised by a variety of food choices, whole grain meals, protein based foods and taking foods which are fresh as they are rich in vital nutrients. Thus healthy lifestyle will inform my change of diet to healthy nutritious foods and limit discretional food items which affect negatively my health.

Questions 1 and 2 in the Food and Diet Questionnaire ask about shopping for food and cooking meals. How would your diet change if your answer to these questions changed? (e.g. if you did the shopping if you do not normally do it, or if someone else shopped and cooked if you normally do)

Dietary food practices are often influenced by the availability of food and preparation methods in terms of food cooking methods. The types of food purchased often influences the diet of any person. None healthy food can be purchased from the food stores leading to unhealthy nutrients being consumed to the body.

Using Menu Labeling and Warnings to Inform Consumers of Sodium Content in Food

Thus when someone purchases for you food, then inevitably they would not consider the nutritive value of food and food variety to provide best nutritive value, thus i might end up consuming un healthy foods.

There are various cooking preparation methods, and this food preparation method often influences the nutritive value of food. This affects the amounts of food nutrient being absorbed in the body, consuming less nutritious food leading to dietary changes in the body.   

With regard to this aspect change of purchasing process and cooking approaches would change my diet and overall nutritional status either negatively or positively. This depends on food accessibility and food choices made and the cooking methods adopted as they can alter or modify food nutrients.

1. Question 12 asks you to rate the importance of factors that influence your food choices. (~150 words, 10 marks)
2. Pick one factor and explain why you answered the way you did and
3. What evidence there is to support that this factor impacts food choice.

Cost and accessibility of foods affects food choice of any particular person. There is no doubt, with regards to cost being the determinant of food choice. Cost has been observed as a prohibitive that depends on the income of a person and socioeconomic status. Those in the low socio economic status tend to consume unbalanced diets which is characterised by low intake of fruits and vegetables, (De Irala-Estevez et al. 2000).

Arguably access to more finance income don’t equate directly to more access to a variety of food which could increase. Food accessibility is another factor. Places or locations to access food are an important factor in food choice, as food availability depends on transport and geographical place of the area.

Research by Donkin et al (2003), has found out that, healthy foods tend to be located more in urban set ups compared to rural areas, nevertheless, improvement on access to food does not entirely increase the purchase of fruits and vegetables which are deemed expensive, (Dibsdall et al., 2003)

Questions to answer about the Likes and Dislikes Questionnaire

How well do you think the Likes and Dislikes Questionnaire captured your like or dislike for foods and beverages?

• The likes and dislikes questionnaire depict the food which i don’t regularly consume entirely, there is much more of dislike than likes in the questionnaire since am not a native to the cultural environment which these foods exists. 

Yes at times there was difficulty in choosing the variety and type of food to consume form the food questionnaire as the food is not familiar to me. The foods listed in the questionnaire, I haven’t seen gotten used to them hence lack of familiarity. The beverages types are assorted and most of them i haven’t come across, hence i experienced difficulty in choosing which ones do i like or not.

• For one to provide a correct answer to any question, needs to have fully understood what is being asked. Hence, in answering the like and dislike of some of the questions, proofed to be hard since research needs ethical values of honesty so as to get the right responses and answers in any given question. This in answering the questionnaire this proved to be a challenge.
• Looking back at your responses to the Likes and Dislikes Questionnaire and the Food Frequency Questionnaire, do you see similarities with your taste preferences and choice of foods? Why or why not? How much do you think taste influences your choice of foods? Use evidence to support the influence of taste preference on food choice.

Taste has been reported to be a major influence in food behaviour. It has been termed as the sensory influence in stimulation through the ingestion of food. This refers to not only taste but also smell, appearance and texture of foods. This aspect of sensory influences particular food choice. From early age, taste influences food behaviour. Any liking for sweetness and bitterness dislikes are human traits which impact significantly on food taste and intake, (Steiner, 1977). Preferences of taste on food are often developed through experiences and are influences by attitudes, beliefs and perceived expectation towards certain food aspect, (Clarke, 1998).

Taste test has been studied and researched to have enormous effects on food palatability and intake. It influences the eating behaviour. Research has shown that taste responses are often influenced by range of genetic, psychological and metabolic variables, (Drewnowski, 1997). Food preferences and choices are associated by attitude, social and economic values, this is associated to my likes and dislikes as it depends on how i was exposed to and taste test.

Video narrative

• In completing the food frequency questionnaire, there were some of the aspects which were easy to complete. These include aspect such as the food preparation methods. Which were basic as I was conversant with them. However challenge came when I had to choose different foods, as I was not conversant with other food types.
• Other participants could face similar challenge filling the different types. Participants whom will be affected most are those who are non native, as they are not conversant with various food types.
• The questions elaborated in the questionnaire were liked to one another and they showed some form of coherence in terms of flow. Food types asked were relevant and depicted various healthy and unhealthy lifestyles which are practised normally. Thus feeling the dislikes and likes table questionnaire became much easier.
• Reflecting on answering the questionnaire, I experienced challenges in tackling some of the questions, since the questions being posed in the questionnaire were not familiar to me hence difficulty to either accept a like or dislike for a food i haven’t even tasted in the first place. However in answering the overall questionnaire took much less time, which gives one ample time  to go through questions being asked without getting bored.

References:

Boon, CS, Taylor, CL, & Henney, JE 2010, Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States, National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.

Cobiac, L.J., Vos, T. and Veerman, J.L., 2010. Cost-effectiveness of interventions to reduce dietary salt intake. Heart, pp.hrt-2010.

Colier, G, & Johnson, D 1992, ‘Consumption of salty food by rats: Regulation of sodium intake?’, Physiology And Behavior, 52, 3, p. 541-546, Scopus®, EBSCOhost, viewed 15 January 2018.

De Irala-Estevez, J., Groth, M.V., Johansson, L., Oltersdorf, U., Prattala, R. and Martinez-Gonzalez, M., 2000. A systematic review of socio-economic differences in food habits in Europe: consumption of fruit and vegetables. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 54(9), pp.706-714.

Drewnowski, A., 1997. Taste preferences and food intake. Annual review of nutrition, 17(1), pp.237-253.

Dibsdall, L.A., Lambert, N., Bobbin, R.F. and Frewer, L.J., 2003. Low-income consumers’ attitudes and behaviour towards access, availability and motivation to eat fruit and vegetables. Public health nutrition, 6(2), pp.159-168.

Donkin, A.J., Dowler, E.A., Stevenson, S.J. and Turner, S.A., 2000. Mapping access to food in a deprived area: the development of price and availability indices. Public health nutrition, 3(1), pp.31-38.

Oria, M, Strom, B, & Yaktine, A 2013, Sodium Intake In Populations : Assessment Of Evidence, n.p.: Washington, D.C. : National Academies Press, [2013], DEAKIN UNIV LIBRARY’s Catalog, EBSCOhost, viewed 15 January 2018

Webster, J.L., Dunford, E.K., Hawkes, C. and Neal, B.C., 2011. Salt reduction initiatives around the world. Journal of hypertension, 29(6), pp.1043-1050.

Yousefian, A, Leighton, A, Fox, K, & Hartley, D 2011, ‘Understanding the rural food environment -perspectives of low-income parents’, Rural And Remote Health, 11, 2, Scopus®, EBSCOhost, viewed 15 January 2018.