The Agency's salt campaign kicks off again today with new ads and a revamped website. The number of organisations lending support to the campaign – from major manufacturers and retailers, to public sector and voluntary groups – just goes to show how far the issue of salt reduction has come. Some considerable reductions in salt levels in food products have already been achieved, and the urinary sodium results released today show there's been a small yet significant drop in the average daily salt consumption of UK adults from 9.5g five years ago to 9g.
Male intake has reduced from 11g a day to 10.2g a day and female intake has fallen from 8.1g day to 7.6g day.
There are still a few people who will argue that reducing people’s salt intake isn't going to do them any good. But, rather like climate change, more and more people now believe that high salt consumption isn’t an issue we can ignore.
The Agency’s advice on salt intake for adults and children is underpinned by the recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN).
In his preface to the committee's Salt and Health report, SACN Chair Alan Jackson says: ‘Meeting these targets would be of major benefit to public health. Even a small reduction in salt intake could help to reduce the burden of high blood pressure on our population.’
This is encouraging news as it shows that the action to reduce salt is having a positive impact and shows that the first steps have been taken towards meeting the UK Government's dietary recommendation that adults should eat no more than 6g of salt a day.
I hope the new campaign will raise awareness of how to reduce salt intakes still further by choosing the foods with lower salt levels.
Of course, salt is not the only aspect of our diet that matters. Studies have shown that the greatest reductions in blood pressure are observed with a diet that is low in salt, total fat and saturated fat, and rich in fruit, vegetables, and low-fat dairy foods. That, and steps to reduce other risk factors that contribute to high blood pressure such as such as alcohol intake, being overweight and not getting enough exercise.
For more information, see the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) trial (Appel et al, 1997) and the DASH Sodium trial (Sacks et al, 2001).