salt and sodium content in iranian breads

salt and sodium content in iranian breads maghroun m1 (bsc), sajjadi f2 (bsc), sarhanghpour mr3 (msc), nouri f4 (msc), shriatifar m5 (msc), mohammadifard n4* (msc), nilforoushzadeh f2 (bsc) 1 cardiac rehabilitation research center, cardiovascular research institute, isfahan university of medical science, isfahan, iran 2 hypertension research center, cardiovascular research institute, isfahan university of medical science, isfahan, iran 3 ibne sina food laboratory, isfahan, iran 4 isfahan cardiovascular research center, cardiovascular research institute,  isfahan university of medical science, isfahan, iran 5 isfahan institute of standard and industrial research, isfahan, iran original article received: 23 apr 2015, accepted: 15 jul 2015 abstract introduction: hypertension is the most important cardiovascular risk factor worldwide. excessive salt and sodium intakes are directly related to hypertension. reduction of salt and sodium intakes is a priority of the who. this study was conducted to measure salt and sodium content in different kinds of iranian breads. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted in isfahan during 2011-2013. a total of 158 types of breads were selected using random sampling method. salt and sodium content of breads were measured using the volhard and atomic absorption method. breads were classified in three categories: 1- traditional bread (n=130), 2- massive and semi-massive bread (n=15), 3- dried bread (n=13). results: the salt content in all kinds of breads varied from 0.78 g/100 in lavash to 2.55 g/100 in dried bread and their sodium content varied from 372.3 mg/100 in lavash to 2005 mg/100 in touneli combaini bread. the mean of salt and sodium content were 1.52 ± 0.49 g/100 and 838.29 mg/100, respectively. there was a significant difference between  mean salt in massive and semi-massive, traditional and dried breads (1.04 ± 0.11 g/100, 1.53± 0.4 g/100 and1.98 ± 0.6 g/100, respectively) (p=0.045). in compare to iranian national standard (no. 2628), salt content in 87% of breads was less than 2%; and 46.7% of bread had sodium more than 800mg. conclusion: according to the iranian national standard, most iranian breads had acceptable amount of salt. the mean daily consumption of bread was 300g/day, so mean intake of salt was about 5 g/day. this amount, in addition to salt intake from other foods, was more than the who recommendation. appropriate measures should be planned to prevent consequence of high salt intake. keywords: bread, salt, sodium, standard please cite this article as follows: maghroun m, sajjadi f, sarhanghpour mr, nouri f, shriatifar m, mohammadifard n, nilforoushzadeh f. salt and sodium content in iranian breads. hakim health sys res 2015; 18(3): 209- 216.   *corresponding author:, isfahan cardiovascular research center, cardiovascular research institute, isfahan university of medical science, isfahan, iran, seddigheh tahereh research building, khorram ave., jomhoori islami sq, isfahan, iran. p.o. box: 81465-1148, tel: +98-31-33377883, fax: +98-31-33373435. e-mail: [email protected]