title: Lack of Association between Self-reported Saltiness of Eating and Actual Salt Intake.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Reducing salt intake is known to be an important factor for lowering blood pressure and preventing cardiovascular disease. Estimating amount of salt intake is a necessary step towards salt intake reduction. Self-reported saltiness of diet is a method most easily used to measure a patient's salt intake. The purpose of this study was to examine the value of self-reported saltiness of diet in measuring salt intake.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from 681 participants who visited a health center at a university hospital between August 2003 and November 2005. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on self-reported saltiness of diet, other dietary habits and lifestyle factors. Salt intake was estimated on the basis of 24-hour dietary recall with a computer-aided nutritional analysis program (CAN-Pro 2.0, Korean Nutrition Society).
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no statistically significant difference between the mean salt intake of the self-reported salty diet group (13.7 ± 4.8 g/d) and the self-reported unsalty diet group (13.3 ± 4.4 g/d). If we assume calculated salt intake as the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of self-reported saltiness were 39.5% and 63.6%, respectively. Salt intake was increased with higher calorie intake, frequency of eating breakfast (≥5 times/wk) and being satiated with usual diet in men, but it was increased only with higher calorie intake in women. Regardless of actual salt intake, the group satiated with a usual diet tended to be in the group of self-reported salty diet.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Self-reported saltiness of diet was not associated with actual salt intake. Further studies will be needed on the simpler and more objective tools to estimate salt intake.
authors: Department of Family Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Yunryong
authors: Y
authors: Chang
authors: Min-Seon
authors: MS
authors: Park
authors: So-Yeon
authors: SY
authors: Chung
authors: Sun Young
authors: SY
authors: Lee
authors: Hyuk Tae
authors: HT
authors: Kwon
authors: Jung-Un
authors: JU
authors: Lee