A Successful Pilot Experiment of Salt Reduction in Tunisian Bread: 35% Gradual Decrease of Salt Content without Detection by Consumers

Jalila El Ati,Radhouene Doggui,Myriam El Ati-Hellal

doi:10.3390/ijerph18041590

Abstract

As bread is the most consumed food by the Tunisian population and the major source of salt, a pilot experiment of salt reduction in bread was begun in Bizerte city. Salt analysis in bread collected from Bizerte city was done with the Volhard titration method. A one-way Anova test was carried out to assess salt content changes over time. Application of the salt reduction programme allowed a gradual decrease of salt content in bread by 35% during three years without detection by Tunisian consumers. The salt concentration in bread was then reduced from 1.7 ± 0.2 g/100 g to 1.1 ± 0.1 g/100 g (p < 0.0001). The establishment of an effective salt reduction strategy with lifestyle education is needed to reduce hypertension, which is the primary cause of death in Tunisia.

Highlights

Salt has been extensively proven to be one of the most important causal factors of hypertension [1,2,3]
The Tunisian government has embarked on a major programme to improve the nutritional quality of the Tunisian diet and to combat obesity as well as noncommunicable diseases by reducing the fat, sugar and salt content of the diet [9]
French bread was selected for the salt reduction programme as it is the most consumed food (197 g per day per person), contributing to 30–50% of the

Summary

Introduction

Salt has been extensively proven to be one of the most important causal factors of hypertension [1,2,3]. Several countries have already reduced salt intake [4,5,6,7]. In the Tunisian diet, bread is a staple food and was identified as the most important source of sodium intake. The national food consumption data of 2015 suggested that the daily French bread consumption per person was about 197 g (222 g in urban area and 135 g in rural area). French bread intake contributes to 30–50% of the added salt intake (7.1 g/d at the national level) [8]. The Tunisian government has embarked on a major programme to improve the nutritional quality of the Tunisian diet and to combat obesity as well as noncommunicable diseases by reducing the fat, sugar and salt content of the diet [9]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion