Attended CNE on Healthy snacking in Hypertension

A CME was attended by the students of M.Sc. Home science (Foods and Nutrition) Final year and 3 faculty members of the department. The topic was“Healthy Snacking and Hypertension” organizedon 23rd August 2013 by Narayan Hrudayalaya Multi-speciality Hospital, Jaipur and Indian Dietetic Association, Jaipur Chapter.

Dr Suresh Vatsyayam spoke on “Management of Hypertension”. He also emphasised on Health Through Wisdom. He said, “Eat as natural as possible, As raw as possible, as many times as possible and as little as possible”. He also focussed on importance of Vitamin D – both as hormone and as antioxidant.

Ms Purima Shankar, from Hindustan Unilever talked on “Healthy Snacking”. She talked about Unilever’s Sodium Reduction Strategy. The first goal of Unilever is – Improving Health and Well Being by 2020. One of the element of this goal is toachieve this by reducing the salt intake. According to WHO less than 5g of salt must be consumed daily. She told that consumption of 6g salt increases the Systolic Blood pressure by 4-7mmHg in Hypertensive patients. She has also talked about the goals of International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS). Ma’am has shared datas related to cosumer behaviour regarding consumption of salt. The salt consumption of Indians is high mainly because of the consumption of pickles, chutneys etc.

Prof KanikaVerma spoke on the “Dietary Aspects of Hypertension”. She elucidated the economics of hypertension. The World Health Day of 2013, focussed on Hypertension. She focussed on Anti-hypertensive therapy, DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. According to her consumption of

cereals should be 7-8 servings, vegetables- 4-5 servings, fruits 4-5 servings, milk and milk products 2-3 servings and the overall diet should be low fat or fat free.