Internaitonal Circulation: Compared with the Western diet， the Chinese diet tends to have a high salt and low potassium content. According to your experiences， how should the patients’ education be carried out to change their lifestyle and eating habits?
《国际循环》：与西方人的饮食相比，中国人的饮食含盐量更高，而钾含量较低。根据您的经验，如何教育患者改变生活方式和饮食习惯？

Dr. Arun Chockalingam: I think we should tell the patients or the public in China that salt is harmful. Salt increases blood pressure， salt increases cardiovascular disease salt increases stroke， and salt increases cancer. So， we should get that message out to the public. We don’t need as much salt as we are eating today.. If in China you are taking fifteen grams of salt， that’s way too much. The human body requires only fifty milligrams of salt a day to function. So， by reducing the salt， you are not going to lose much， but if you are taking fifteen grams you can’t ask people to go to fifty milligrams overnight. Ask them to reduce from fifteen grams， to ten grams， to five grams， in a gradual manner. Initially when you have a high salt intake， your blood pressure is very high. Weekly as you reduce the salt， the blood pressure comes down， weekly you further reduce the salt， the blood pressure too comes down. So， you can gradually decrease. So you can change your taste buds to accept less salt. It is a challenge， but it can be done.
Arun Chockalingam博士：我认为应当告知中国的患者或公众，过量摄入盐是有害的。盐会升高血压，增加患心血管疾病、卒中和癌症的风险。因此，我们必须把这个信息传递给大众。日常生活中我们不需要这么多盐，中国人盐的摄入量为15克/天，这太多了。人体每天只需要50毫克盐就可以正常工作，所以减少盐分的摄入并不会造成太大影响。不过如果他们每天摄入15克，你没有办法让他们一夜之间就减到50毫克。可以先从15克减到10克，再到5克，逐渐减少。起初你的盐摄入量很高，血压也较高。当你每周减少盐的摄入，血压也随之下降，再进一步减少盐的摄入量，血压还会再下降，这是一个逐渐下降的过程。这样就逐步改善了饮食习惯。这样做是有挑战性，但却是能够做到的。

Internaitonal Circulation: Could you talk about the role of lifestyle intervention on the prevention of cardiovascular diseases?
《国际循环》：您能讲一下生活方式干预对预防心血管疾病的作用吗？

Dr. Arun Chockalingam: Well， China used to be one of the models in the world many years ago when most people were bicycling. They were spending more energy， and they watched very little television. Now we are not spending enough energy. We eat more calories and or so but we are not burning the calories， so that is why the lifestyle is absolutely important. Secondly， in old China， you did not eat as much fat as we are eating today. Globalization has improved the Chinese economy and globalization has improved Chinese well-being，. but if you look at the health side， it has done the reverse. So the lifestyle of not smoking， being physically active， and taking healthy food， and consuming more fruits and vegetables will change your lifestyle and change your disease pattern.. It should be practiced.
Arun Chockalingam博士：许多年前，中国曾经是全世界的榜样之一，因为中国人民都骑单车，消耗多余能量，同时很少看电视。但是，目前我们运动量不够，摄入热量比以前多，却没有适当消耗，所以说生活方式绝对重要。其次，目前在中国，人们每天摄入的脂肪量没有我们西方国家多。全球化对中国的经济等各面都产生了积极影响，但是从健康角度来讲却截然相反。健康的生活方式应当是禁烟、积极参加体育锻炼、吃健康食品，换句话说就是多吃蔬菜。要特别注意改善生活方式。

Internaitonal Circulation: You mentioned in your presentation that the main source of food sodium intake is food processing. It accounts for 77% of the total food sodium intake. But it seems to the public that in addition to urging the food industries to change the food processing methods， what can the general public do with regard to this issue?
《国际循环》：您在演讲中提到食物里的钠主要来自食品加工过程，占食物中钠的总摄入量的77%。但是除了要求食品工业改变食物加工方法之外，一般大众还有什么需要注意的吗？

Dr. Arun Chockalingam: The data that I showed you is based on the western pattern. We have not studied what is the salt content and sodium content in the process food and the cooking and adding on the table in China. If you do it I am sure the numbersa would be slightly different. Much of the salt in China comes from cooking， so we have to reduce the salt added in cooking. So it is different from other countries.
Arun Chockalingam博士：你提到的是西方国家的数据，这些研究没有涉及到中国在食品加工、烹饪，以及添加剂方面的食盐含量和钠含量。如果做这方面的研究我能肯定数据应当略有不同。中国大部分的盐来自烹饪过程，因此我们应当减少食物烹饪加盐。这有别于其它国家。

Internaitonal Circulation: The World Health Organization attributes hypertension as the leading cause of cardiovascular mortality. It has been reported that more than 50% of the hypertensive population worldwide are unaware of their condition. To address this problem， how can we get the message to the population efficiently， do you have any experience in your country?
《国际循环》：世界卫生组织将高血压列为心血管疾病死亡的最重要原因。据报道全世界有超过50%的高血压人群不知道自己的血压问题。我们应当如何解决这个问题，如何将信息有效地传达给一般人群，在您的国家有这方面的经验可供借鉴吗？

Dr. Arun Chockalingam: Yes， we do. I think this is what we are trying to do through the World Hypertension League. The World Hypertension Day is mainly an awareness campaign. As the World Health Organization has rightly said， more than 50% of the population doesn’t even know that they are hypertensiveand the first time people measure their blood pressure is when they get a heart attack--that is too late. But if you know what your blood pressure is， at least you can control it. We talked about lifestyle. We can use lifestyle intervention to reduce blood pressure. If lifestyle doesn’t work， we’ve got excellent medications today. We can take the medication and reduce the prevalence of hypertension. The consequence of hypertension is kidney disease， heart disease， and stroke. So all the organ damage we can reduce. The World Hypertension League is committed to increasing worldwide blood pressure awareness.
Arun Chockalingam博士：有，我们会在世界高血压日进行宣传。世界高血压日是一个宣传活动，超过50%的人群不知道他们是高血压人群。如果第一次知道自己血压情况是因为发生心肌梗死才知道的，这就太晚了。但是如果你知道你的血压是多少，就可以进行控制。我们提到过生活方式的问题，我们可以进行生活方式的干预，如果改善生活方式不奏效，我们现在还有很好的药物可以用来控制血压到一个理想的水平。高血压的后果可以是肾病、心脏病、卒中，所以我们可以通过早期干预从而减少这些器官损害的发生。