Amerzadeh Mohammad, Takian Amirhossein, Pouraram Hamed, Sari Ali Akbari, Ostovar Afshin
Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Research Institute for Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases, Qazvin university of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.
Department of Health Management, Policy & Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran.
BMC Nutr. 2022 Mar 25;8(1):26. doi: 10.1186/s40795-022-00518-7.
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the first reason for death worldwide, in which poor diet is the leading risk factor. It is estimated that 20% of all death is related to food. The Unhealthy diet includes many foods with excessive salt, sugar and fat. This paper reports a national study on the socio-cultural determinants affecting salt, sugar and fat consumption in Iran.
This is a qualitative study. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 various purposefully identified key stakeholders to collect data from December 2018 until August 2019 in Iran.
We identified socio-cultural determents of salt, fat and sugar consumption as follows: Inadequate structure of traditional medicine and people's desire for traditional foods, low health literacy, the global trend of nutritional transition and its impact on Iranian society, The progressive decline of people's trust in NGOs, and Inappropriate media management. Worse still, the global trend of nutritional transition and people's tendency towards fast foods, unhealthy diet and junk foods, partially due to establishing children's taste mainly with salty, high-fat and sweet foods, has jeopardized their desire to eat healthily during adulthood.
Reducing salt, fat and sugar consumption is problematic in Iran, mainly due to multi-dimensional socio-cultural determinants. In line with sustainable development goal (SDG) 3.4 to reduce 30% of premature death due to NCDs and related risk factors by 2030 in Iran, various stakeholders from multiple sectors need to initiate coherent series of interventions to alter people's approach to select food so that they may reduce the consumption of foods with excessive salt, fat and sugar.
非传染性疾病是全球首要死因，不良饮食是主要风险因素。据估计，所有死亡中有20%与食物有关。不健康饮食包括许多盐、糖和脂肪含量过高的食物。本文报告了一项关于影响伊朗盐、糖和脂肪消费的社会文化决定因素的全国性研究。
这是一项定性研究。2018年12月至2019年8月期间，我们在伊朗对30名经过有目的地确定的不同关键利益相关者进行了半结构化访谈以收集数据。
我们确定了盐、脂肪和糖消费的社会文化决定因素如下：传统医学结构不完善以及人们对传统食物的偏爱、健康素养低、营养转型的全球趋势及其对伊朗社会的影响、人们对非政府组织的信任逐渐下降以及媒体管理不当。更糟糕的是，营养转型的全球趋势以及人们对快餐、不健康饮食和垃圾食品的偏好，部分原因是儿童的口味主要由咸味、高脂肪和甜食塑造，这危及了他们成年后健康饮食的欲望。
在伊朗，减少盐、脂肪和糖的消费存在问题，主要是由于多维度的社会文化决定因素。为了符合可持续发展目标3.4，即到2030年在伊朗将因非传染性疾病及相关风险因素导致的过早死亡减少30%，多个部门的不同利益相关者需要发起一系列连贯的干预措施，以改变人们选择食物的方式，从而减少高盐、高脂肪和高糖食物的消费。
