Barakat Nathalie, Olabi Ammar, Nasreddine Lara, Ismaeel Hussain, Kharroubi Samer, Jaoude Layal Abou, Zeidan Mona, Rajeh Caroline, Toufeili Imad
Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Balamand, Beirut, Lebanon.
PLoS One. 2025 Jun 12;20(6):e0325857. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0325857. eCollection 2025.
High dietary salt intake is a major risk factor for hypertension, which strongly predisposes affected individuals to cardiovascular diseases and stroke. Most populations consume more salt than the upper limit set by the WHO at 5 g/day. Bread is a major contributor to salt intake, and reducing bread salt is the most effective approach for reducing the ingestion of salt by populations.
This work aims to determine the salt levels of bread marketed in Lebanon, bread consumption by the Lebanese population, and the bread's contribution to daily salt intake.
One hundred and sixty-two samples of the breads consumed in Lebanon were collected from 45 bakeries, and their salt levels were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The bread consumption was estimated from a cross-sectional survey of 1048 individuals, and their salt intakes were computed using the determined levels of bread salt. The proportion of breads samples meeting the WHO-recommended salt levels was computed, and the salt intakes were determined and benchmarked against the WHO cut-offs.
The least salty and saltiest breads were the white pita and markouk, with mean salt levels of 1.46g/100g and 2.77g/100g, respectively. The breads meeting the WHO-recommended salt levels ranged between 7.1% and 12%. The total bread consumption was 176.27 ± 216.73 g/day with white pita being the most consumed at 96.63 ± 175.44 g/day. The salt intake from bread at 2.86 ± 3.83 g/day amounted to 57.2% of the WHO limit for daily salt intake.
The breads spanned wide ranges of salt content and differed markedly in their contribution to salt intake. White pita was the most consumed and contained the least salt thereby making it the chief contributor to salt intake from bread. Interestingly, the analyzed breads indicated the availability of products that meet the WHO-recommended targets for salt thereby providing an impetus for reducing bread salt by stealth.
高盐饮食是高血压的主要危险因素，这会使受影响个体极易患心血管疾病和中风。大多数人群摄入的盐超过了世界卫生组织设定的每日5克的上限。面包是盐摄入的主要来源，减少面包中的盐分是减少人群盐摄入量的最有效方法。
这项工作旨在确定黎巴嫩市场上销售面包的盐分水平、黎巴嫩人群的面包消费量以及面包对每日盐摄入量的贡献。
从45家面包店收集了162份黎巴嫩消费的面包样品，并用原子吸收分光光度法测定其盐分水平。通过对1048人的横断面调查估算面包消费量，并使用测定的面包盐分水平计算他们的盐摄入量。计算符合世界卫生组织推荐盐分水平的面包样品比例，并根据世界卫生组织的临界值确定盐摄入量并进行基准对比。
含盐量最低和最高的面包分别是白色皮塔饼和马尔库克面包，平均盐分水平分别为1.46克/100克和2.77克/100克。符合世界卫生组织推荐盐分水平的面包比例在7.1%至12%之间。面包总消费量为176.27±216.73克/天，白色皮塔饼消费量最大，为96.63±175.44克/天。面包的盐摄入量为2.86±3.83克/天，占世界卫生组织每日盐摄入量限值的57.2%。
面包的含盐量范围广泛，对盐摄入量的贡献差异显著。白色皮塔饼消费量最大且含盐量最低，因此是面包盐摄入的主要来源。有趣的是，分析的面包表明存在符合世界卫生组织推荐盐分目标的产品，从而为悄然减少面包盐分提供了动力。
