Jakarta, Oktober 2024 – Ajinomoto Indonesia Group is actively campaigning the concept of Smart Salt, which is one of Ajinomoto Health Provider's initiatives to encourage the implementation of a healthy lifestyle for the Indonesian people and help extend healthy life expectancy. The concept of Smart Salt is a solution with easy application, by reducing the use of salt and adding a little MSG in the consumption of daily menus so that food remains delicious even though the use of salt is reduced. Ajinomoto's commitment to promoting the importance of reducing salt is also carried out through the innovation of Masako Light products with lower salt content.
Ajinomoto Indonesia Group has Smart Salt concept as one of Ajinomoto Health Provider's initiatives to help extend healthy life expectancy and encourage the implementation of a healthy lifestyle for the Indonesian people. The Bijak Garam concept is a solution with a fairly easy application, namely by reducing salt use and adding a little MSG to daily menu consumption. In addition, Ajinomoto Health Provider also innovates products through the Masako Brand, with the presence of the Masako Light product variant which has a lower salt content.
According to dr. Yohan Samudra, SpGK, AIFO-K, a clinical nutrition specialist from Premier Bintaro Hospital, excessive salt consumption is the main trigger for hypertension which leads to increased risk factors for heart disease. Therefore, limiting salt intake in daily food consumption is important for the community to avoid risk factors for heart attacks.
"Based on data from the Indonesian Ministry of Health in 2023, in Indonesia the death rate due to heart disease (cardiovascular) is still very high, reaching around 650,000 people per year. The high prevalence of cardiovascular disease in Indonesia is caused by several factors, such as age, genetics (family history), obesity, and metabolic diseases (hypertension, high blood sugar, high cholesterol). Therefore, it is important for all of us to be able to limit our intake of sugar, salt, fat (GGL), as also recommended by the Indonesian Ministry of Health. Well, from the factors I mentioned, of course implementing a healthy lifestyle is the best way to avoid risk factors for heart attacks," said Dr. Yohan when interviewed.
"Commemorating World Heart Day which falls in September, I would like to invite all people to consistently implement a healthy lifestyle by actively exercising regularly, and controlling their intake of sugar, salt, fat (GGL). Because, by implementing this, it will reduce the risk of heart attacks and be protective of heart health. Ways that we can do in our daily lives are by consuming more home cooking and limiting packaged foods and fast foods, because in packaged foods we sometimes forget about hidden salt in them. Therefore, we as consumers must also be careful in looking at the nutritional information label on the packaging. Related to other ways to reduce salt intake, in cooking our daily menu we can also use flavor enhancers such as MSG, because the salt (sodium) content in MSG is only 1/3 of the sodium content in regular table salt. Several studies have also shown that by adding MSG to cooking, it can reduce salt intake by more than 30%, but the deliciousness of the food is still maintained," he continued.
Eurli Prameswari, Head of Sauce & Seasoning Dept - PT Ajinomoto Indonesia said that the Ajinomoto Indonesia Group is actively campaign for Smart Salt concept as one of the Ajinomoto Health Provider initiatives, and a form of the company's contribution to encourage the creation of a healthy lifestyle in the community.
"The Ajinomoto Smart Salt campaign is a form of public education about the importance of a low-salt diet. The application of Smart Salt in daily cooking activities is also very easy, simply by reducing some of the use of salt and replacing it with adding MSG. For example, in cooking a chicken soup menu, from what we usually pour 2 teaspoons (tsp) of salt into 1 liter of soup stock, it is enough to change it to 1 tsp salt + ½ tsp MSG, with these tips, we have the concept of implementing Bijak Garam. Commemorating World Heart Day, we are working together with the Indonesian Heart Foundation to contribute by holding an offline event containing various activities that encourage the creation of healthy lifestyle such as joint Senam Jantung Sehat (SJS), medical checks, provided by the committee, and there is also education on the Smart Salt concept at Ajinomoto Indonesia booth. In addition, Ajinomoto Indonesia is also innovating products that support the community to implement a healthy lifestyle. This product innovation is present through the Masako Brand which has launched a new variant of Masako Light with less salt content*), said Eurli.
The Indonesian public can find more complete information about the Smart Salt concept & Ajinomoto Health Provider initiative through (www.ajinomoto.co.id). In addition, Ajinomoto also has the Dapur Umami platform (https://www.dapurumami.com/campaign/bijak-garam) which contains cooking recipes that carry the concept of Bijak Garam. People can directly apply these recipes at home easily. Through this Smart Salt campaign, Ajinomoto hopes to continue contributes to encouraging the creation of a lifestyle in Indonesia society.