Chennai NGO releases guide to reduce salt intake

Sapiens Health Foundation marked World Salt Awareness Week 2026 by releasing a multilingual salt reduction guide and an awareness video at an event held at the central office of Indian Overseas Bank on May 13.

Ajay Kumar Srivastava, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Indian Overseas Bank, was the chief guest at the event. He released the salt reduction guidebooks in English, Tamil, and Hindi.

The guide outlines the average quantity of salt consumed by Indians and offers practical suggestions to reduce salt intake while cooking, shopping for packaged foods, and eating at restaurants.

Rajan Ravichandran, chairman of Sapiens Health Foundation, said the World Health Organization’s target of reducing salt consumption by 30% had not yet been achieved globally. He noted that around 92 countries had implemented some form of legislation aimed at reducing salt intake and improving public health outcomes.

Dr. Ravichandran stressed the need for India to introduce mandatory sodium labelling on food products and adopt measures to reduce salt use in large-scale food procurement systems. He also appealed to the audience to consider using low-sodium salt substitutes for cooking as a step towards preventing hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

The awareness session included a presentation to employees of Indian Overseas Bank on the health risks associated with excessive salt consumption and the importance of dietary changes in preventing lifestyle diseases.