Health risk leaps as salty food gains favour

An increasing number of Nunavik residents are eating store-bought food and then dousing it with more salt, increasing the risk that they will suffer from high blood pressure, which can cause potentially life-threatening heath problems.

About 40 per cent of adult Nunavimmiut say they put extra salt on the foods they consume at home, says recently released research based on data from the 2004 Qanuipittaa health survey.

More Nunavimmiut say they are eating salt-laden store-bought foods than ever before.

By consuming too much salt they run the risk of developing high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks and stroke.

The rate of high blood pressure among Nunavimmiut doubled to 12 per cent in 2004 from six per cent in 1992, information gathered during the health survey shows.

Researchers from Quebec’s pubic health institute say this increase is linked to the amount of salt Nunavimmiut consume in their food and to the change from country foods to more salt-laden processed foods.

They found men between 19 and 50 consumed the most salt, often more than double the recommended daily amount of 1,300 to 1,500 mg, about two-thirds a teaspoon of salt.

Before 1992, Nunavimmiut ate fish and seafood about three times a week, caribou about twice a week, and wild birds and marine mammals once a week.

But in 1992 the Santé Quebec health survey found only about 21 per cent of the food that Nunavimmiut adults ate came from traditional foods.

And that percentage had dropped to 16 per cent in 2004.

At the same time, store-bought foods provide 95 per cent of salt people eat, Qanuippitaa found.

And the impact of this salty diet on the state of health among Nunavimmiut is clear, says Dr. Marie-Luduvine Château-Degat.

“This is a population currently undergoing a significant dietary transition away from their traditional diet — which includes large amounts of fish and marine products — to a Western diet,” Dr. Château-Degat told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress last month. “Both diastolic and systolic blood pressures increased with amount of sodium [salt] consumed.”

Blood pressure is the pressure of blood as it gets pumped by the heart within the arteries.

Blood pressure measurement is recorded by two numbers, systolic, measured after the heart contracts, which is generally the highest, and diastolic, measured before the heart contracts, which is lower.

Doctors consider that a blood pressure reading of 120/80 or lower is normal blood pressure, while 140/90 or higher indicates high blood pressure.

To keep blood pressure within normal ranges, Nunavimmiut should try to cut down their consumption of soft drinks and prepackaged foods, said Château-Degat.

Even cutting down a little bit can produce a change in blood pressure, she said.

Ways to reduce added, unnecessary salt include: