UK Leads Salt Reduction Drive

18 Feb 2015 --- The UK is seen as a world leader in the effort to reduce salt in the diet, a new report on the cardiovascular risks of salt has revealed.

A diet high in salt has been linked with hypertension, cardiovascular and kidney disease and it has been highlighted as one of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) key targets to reduce the burden of non-communicable disease around the world.

Once used as just a preservative, salt is now widely used as a seasoning, and whilst the human body can survive on around 1g salt/day, in many countries, consumption has topped 10g per day, according to ‘Reducing Sodium in the Global Food Supply to Reduce Population Burden of Cardiovascular Disease’.

The WHO recommends that all countries reduce their per capita salt consumption by 30% to no more than 5g per day.

Consumers have become accustomed to the taste of salt, and most of the salt consumed today comes from processed foods, which equates to 75% of salt intake in Western countries. Due to the high salt content of most processed foods, some 38 countries have now introduced measures to encourage food manufacturers to reduce the salt in their products. 

As well as establishing an action group, CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health), the UK has introduced the Public Responsibility Deal, a voluntary scheme that seeks to reduce sugar, salt and fat from processed foods and drinks. It seeks to reduce the amount of salt in processed foods by 40%, and salt added to by consumers by another 40%. Values still exceed the recommendations, the UK now reports an average daily intake of 6g/day, but it also reports a 15% reduction in salt intake since 2001. This is thought to represent a national saving of £1.5bn and around 9,000 fewer deaths related to conditions exacerbated by salt intake.

The report concludes that reducing consumption by reformulating processed food is a much more effective way to manage salt intake than by education or asking consumers to reduce their own added salt.

However, many experts still believe that the best way to reduce salt consumption is by introducing legislation that forces change. Out of the 38 countries that have introduced salt-reduction policies, just nine of them have introduced legislation. Experts believe that action needs to be taken now, if the WHO goal of 30% salt intake reduction is to be achieved. Following the UK’s lead would be a good place to start, they say.