Hungarian Diet and Nutritional Status Survey – The OTAP2009 study. IV. Macroelement intake of the Hungarian population

Abstract

The adequate intake of minerals is basically important for healthy nutrition. The Hungarian Diet and Nutritional Status Survey - joining to the European Health Interview Survey - studied the dietary habits of the Hungarian population. The present publication describes the macroelement intake. The salt intake is unusually high (17.2 g in men and 12.0 g in women), the potassium intake remains well below the recommendation. These factors substantially increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases including high blood-pressure. The calcium intake stays below the recommendation except in the youngest males, the oldest men and women are at risk from this point of view. While magnesium intake suited the recommendation, the intake of phosphorus exceeded it twice. Focusing on marcroelements, high sodium/salt intake represents the highest public health risk. The implementation of STOP SALT! National Salt Reducing Programme, i.e. decrease the salt content of processed food and provide proper information to the population about excessive salt consumption, should result in a beneficial change of salt intake and ameliorate the public health conditions.