Comparison of Salt-Related Knowledge and Behaviors Status of WeChat Users between 2019 and 2020.

Yibing Yang,Wenhui Shi,Jing Wu,Jixiang Ma,Jinglei Wang

doi:10.3390/nu13072141

Abstract

In order to identify the status of salt-related knowledge and behavior of the residents who were active in WeChat software between 2019 and 2020, 10-day salt-related surveys were conducted in 2019 and 2020 based on the WeChat public platform of China Healthy Lifestyle for All Campaign. Distribution and scores of salt-related knowledge, salt reduction behavior and high-salt intake behavior between 2019 and 2020 were compared. Data of 2109 participants in 2019 and 12,732 participants in 2020 were left for analysis. Overall, 88.2% of participants in 2019 had a willingness to reduce the amount of cooking salt in their households, significantly lower than 90.2% in 2020 (p-value < 0.05). In 2019 and 2020, over 80% of the participants knew fine dried noodles contain salt, but less than 30% knew ice cream contains salt. Over 78% of participants chose 5 g or 6 g for the maximum daily salt intake of healthy adults, and about 98% of participants knew that excessive salt intake would increase the risk of hypertension in both years. The percentage of participants who used salt measuring spoons asked restaurants to use less salt, read the sodium content on the nutrition facts table, chose foods with low sodium content and regularly used low-sodium salt, were 36.1%, 45.0%, 44.1%, 40.3% and 35.8% in 2019, and the percentage increased significantly to 46.4%, 49.2%, 50.8%, 47.1% and 43.4% in 2020 (all p-value < 0.05). The percentage of people regularly eating pickled mustard tubers, salted vegetables and sauce foods or using high-salt condiments also increased from 2019 to 2020. The median of salt-related knowledge scores, salt reduction behavior scores and high-salt intake behavior scores were 11, 2, 5 points in 2019, and 10, 3, 5 points in 2020, respectively. Compared to 2019, the salt-related knowledge score was relatively lower, while the salt reduction behavior score and high-salt intake behavior score were relatively higher in 2020. Besides, the score of salt-related knowledge and behaviors differed in different gender, age and hypertension groups. The COVID-19 epidemic may have influenced the salt-related knowledge and behaviors status of WeChat users in China. Promotion and education of salt-related knowledge and online behavior intervention are still needed, particularly for male and hypertension patients in the future.

Highlights

This study found that the percentage of WeChat users who had the willingness of reducing the amount of cooking salt in their households was quite high between 2019 and 2020 in China, but the awareness level of salt-related knowledge varied greatly, similar to the result of a survey of 2444 Chinese consumers in 2017 [33]
Results show that the willingness of reducing the amount of cooking salt in households was very high, but the level of salt-related knowledge decreased and the proportion of salt reduction and high-salt intake behaviors increased from 2019 to 2020, which may due to the potential impact of COVID-19 epidemic
The results point out that promotion and education of salt-related knowledge and online behavior intervention are still needed, for male and hypertension patients in the future, which will be fully considered in CHLA Campaign salt reduction action

Summary

Introduction

Non-communicable diseases have become a huge threat to the lives and health of the global public; the onset and long-term treatment of chronic diseases will reduce the quality of life of the patients and their families and cause society to rapidly increase in huge expenditures and bear heavy burdens [1,2,3]. Ischemic heart disease and stroke had become the top-ranked causes of disability adjusted life years(DALYs) in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups across the world, and it was estimated that hypertension and cardiovascular diseases accounted for more than 40% of all deaths in China and were the main causes of all deaths [2,4]. The excessive intake of salt may increase the risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease and stroke [5,6,7].

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion