Too much salt in our diets - warning

Vietnamese people need to change their eating habits, experts warn after it was revealed locals consume almost double the daily dose of salt they should.

NCDs increase due to excess salt intake

The Vietnamese are eating a lot of salty food. However, many people refuse to accept that excess salt in one's daily diet is not healthy and may cause several non communicable diseases (NCDs)) such as high blood pressure or heart diseases, participants heard at a workshop on Monday.

Infectious diseases lead to cancer

Việt Nam’s national cancer control strategy needed to address the serious problem of infectious agents, blamed for more than 20 per cent of malignancies in the world, Professor Nguyễn Chấn Hùng, chairman of Việt Nam Cancer Society, said this week.

‘Boatman' sushi makes waves in Ha Noi Kobune Sushi might be located in a megamall, but the marine-themed restaurant offers a more authentic sushi experience than many other Japanese establishments in the capital city. Nguyen My Ha reports.

Too much salt in diet causes disease and ill health The number of adults suffering from high blood pressure is increasing rapidly because people are eating too much salt, said Dr Phan Bich Nga from the National Institute of Nutrition.

Gastric cancer kills 11,000 people yearly Gastric cancer has become the third most frequent cancer (after liver and lung cancer) in Viet Nam with 15,000 newly diagnosed cases and 11,000 causalities yearly, according to the National Cancer Hospital Internal Department Director Nguyen Tuyet Mai.

Child malnutrition remains serious issue The number of malnourished children in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) province of Dak Nong has decreased by 10 per cent in two years, according to experts from the Reproductive Health Care Centre.

Illegal books purport to tell parents how to choose baby's gender It is quite easy to find guide books for parents to follow prenatal gender selection methods at bookstores throughout the capital city, according to Nguyen Thi Huong, a mother of two girls living in Ha Noi.

Like salt and like that I wondered why I suddenly wanted to become a grain of salt. A tiny salty grain lying in silence somewhere in the white salt holder on a spice rack in a small kitchen. Or a grain of salt crusted on an old La Vie bottle, which my father used in the old days to gargle after waking up.

Culture Vulture Nguyen Bich Thuy, a 30-year-old lecturer at the Viet Nam National Academy of Music, won fourth prize at the China International Vocal Competition last month in Ningbo City, China. She took home Best Performer in the Chinese song category.This isn't her first award for a major competition. She also won first prize at the Bangkok Vocal Opera Competition in Thailand in 2002. Thuy has just finished her master's degree in South Korea. Culture Vulture finds out more.