Long-term consumption of high amounts of salt at a young age can affect o reven cause the risk of certain cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. The severity of these diseases increases with age. In order to decrease the incidence of these diseases, health organizations urge us to eat less salty food.
The aim of this diploma thesis was to determine how often primary school students eat salty foods, whether they know food products that contain large amounts of salt, how often they salt their food and if they know health risks caused by long-term use of large amounts of salt.
Data were collected using a questionnaire that was completed by 222 primary school students attending 5th, 7th and 9th grade in cities of Novo Mesto and Ljubljana.
Most primary school students estimate that their daily salt consumption represents small amounts and they never add salt to food before tasting. Research results show that they frequently add salt to soups, potatoes, salads and meat. Primary school students mostly have little knowledge about salt contents in foods. They read salt content labels on food packaging less often then contents labels about other ingredients. A higher percentage of primary school students are aware of health risks related to long-term consumption of excessive amounts of fat and sugar, than health risks related to salt.
Survey results show that it would be necessary to improve knowledge of primary school students about the importance of the use of foods labels, especially about the salt content and encourage them to eat foods with less salt. And finally, they need to be properly informed about the health problems caused by long-term consumption of excessive amounts of salt.
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