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Twelve-year trends and correlates of dietary salt intakes for the general adult population of Geneva, Switzerland

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 21 November 2007

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Investigate dietary salt intake trends by gender, and their associations with risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in Geneva, Switzerland.

Subjects/Methods:

Continuous surveillance of the Geneva general adult (35–74 years) population for 12 years (1993–2004) using a validated, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) in random, cross-sectional, representative samples (6688 men, 6647 women). Dietary salt intake assessment by FFQ excluded discretionary salt, but was calibrated on total salt intake using an independent validation substudy of 100 volunteers who additionally provided 24-h urine collections.

Results:

Quartiles (mean) of calibrated dietary salt intake (g per day) were 9.9, 10.5, 11.2 (10.6) in men, and 7.0, 7.8, 8.9 (8.1) in women and were above current recommendations. Quartiles (mean) of salt density (g MJ−1) were 0.99, 1.16, 1.39 (1.23) in men, and 0.98, 1.12, 1.30 (1.17) in women. Both measures were stable during the 12-year surveillance period, regardless of hypertension treatment. Salt-density differences between cardiovascular disease risk factor subgroups were moderate. Salt density increased with age and body mass index. The main dietary non-discretionary salt food sources (men/women: 47/48%) were breads (17/17%), cheeses (11/10%), meat and meat products (8/7%), soups (6/9%) and ready-to-eat foods (5/5%).

Conclusions:

Salt intakes from all sources for the Geneva, and perhaps the Swiss adult population are above current recommendations. The quantitative and qualitative data provided in this paper could be used to develop and implement strategies for salt-intake reduction in Switzerland.

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Acknowledgements

The surveys were funded by the Swiss National Fund for Scientific Research (Grant nos. 32-31.326.91, 32-37986.93, 32-46142-95, 32-47219.96, 32-49847.96, 32-054097.98, 32-57104.99). The salt-specific studies were funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (Contracts nos. 03.001605, 05.001008). We also thank Mr Lau Ba-Luong for his assistance in preparing the study-specific sodium database.

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Correspondence to M C Costanza.

Additional information

Guarantor: A Morabia.

Contributors: SBB drafted the paper, supervised Bus Santé surveys/data collection, PI for Swiss Federal Office of Public Health salt studies, compiled sodium food composition table; MCC performed and interpreted all biostatistical analyses, coordinated writing of final version of paper; APB was medical PI of salt validation substudy; AM directed Bus Santé surveys, PI of salt projects. All authors contributed equally to the writing of the final paper.

Conflicts of interest

None declared.

Ethical approval

The surveys were approved by the ethical committee for epidemiological research and public health, Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Geneva. The salt intake validation study was approved by the Geneva University Hospital institutional ethics committee.

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Beer-Borst, S., Costanza, M., Pechère-Bertschi, A. et al. Twelve-year trends and correlates of dietary salt intakes for the general adult population of Geneva, Switzerland. Eur J Clin Nutr 63, 155–164 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602922

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