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Online Program

329162
Philadelphia Healthy Chinese Take-out Restaurant Initiative: Reducing Sodium to Prevent Chronic Diseases


Monday, November 2, 2015

Guo (Yolanda) Zhang, MS, Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Grace X. Ma, PhD, Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Jennifer Aquilante, MPH, RD, LDN, Nutrition and Physical Activity, Get Healthy Philly Initiative, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA
Yin Tan, MD, MPH, Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Brenda Seals, PhD, MPH, Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Giridhar Mallya, MD, MSHP, Policy and Planning, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA
Meagan Pharis, Nutrition and Physical Activity, Get Healthy Philly Initiative, Philadelphia Department of Public Health Aramark Tower, Philadelphia, PA
Mei Zhao, BS, Center for Asian Health, College of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Steven Zhu, Greater Philadelphia Chinese Restaurant Association, Philadelphia, PA
Qiaoling Zeng, PhD, Center for Asian Health, College of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Background: Chinese restaurant dishes often contain large amounts of sodium due to the sauces used in cooking.  In Philadelphia, there are over 400 independently owned Chinese take-out restaurants clustered in low-income communities with a high prevalence of hypertension. In 2012, partnerships were formed with key local stakeholders and 206 Chinese take-out restaurant owners/chefs to reduce the sodium content in restaurant dishes. Chefs participated in culturally tailored low-salt cooking trainings and received low-salt preparation resources and technical assistance.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the Philadelphia Healthy Chinese Take-out Initiative in reducing sodium levels in select dishes in participating restaurants.

Methods: Blinded samples of three popular dishes were obtained and analyzed from 19 randomly selected participating restaurants at baseline and 6, 16 and 24 months post-training. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare the sodium content of dishes (mg Na/g of food) across the various time periods.

Results: There were significant reductions (p<.01) in the sodium content of all three sampled dishes from baseline to 24 months post-training. The magnitude of changes in sodium content at 24 months ranged from -13% to -34%. At 24 months post-training, the dishes met recommended daily dietary sodium guidelines but still exceeded the guidelines for a single meal.

Conclusion: A culturally tailored low-salt cooking intervention can successfully reduce sodium levels in Chinese take-out restaurant dishes.  Continued monitoring is needed to document long term changes in sodium levels. Replications of this intervention with other independent restaurants could potentially make important inroads in reducing salt consumption.

Learning Areas:

Chronic disease management and prevention
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related education
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the importance of reducing salt levels in Chinese take-out dishes. Evaluate the effectiveness of a public health, sodium reduction initiative for independent restaurants. Design future sodium reduction interventions for popular dishes sold at Chinese take-out restaurants.

Keyword(s): Chronic Disease Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the principal or co-principal of multiple federally funded grants focusing on Behavioral Health Intervention Trials, Health Disparities/Transcultural Health Care (Asian Americans and Ethnic Minority Populations,)Cancer Prevention and Intervention for over the past decade. I have received over 55 grant awards from various sources, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to conduct research in my expertise areas.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3317.0: Predictors of Health Disparities: Identifying Targets for Change