Add new comment

There was good news this week, with the results of our most recent urinary sodium analysis revealing that we are all eating less salt. The national average now stands at 8.6g – a 9% drop from the 2000/2001 figure of 9.5g. The UK is leading on salt reduction in Europe – we have substantially raised consumer awareness of the danger of eating too much salt and industry has reduced the amounts of salt in foods faster than any other country. But there’s still more to do if we are to meet the national target of consuming no more than 6g a day.

Whenever the Agency talks publicly about its salt reduction work with industry, various myths raise their ugly heads time and time again. One of the most disturbing is the claim, included in several news reports this week, that the link between salt and blood pressure has never been proven. This is simply not the case. The recommended salt intake of 6g is based on robust scientific evidence as highlighted by the Government’s independent Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, who reviewed all the existing scientific evidence in 2003 and concluded that the evidence of a link between high salt diets and high blood pressure was even stronger than it was when it had last been looked at in the early 1990s.  And it’s not just us – the World Health Organization has also reviewed the evidence and concluded that there would be significant health benefits in decreasing the populations’ average salt intake.  In addition, the Agency is constantly monitoring studies in this area, but there has been nothing significant on salt since the review in 2003.

The fact that salt intakes are moving in the right direction is a sign that the voluntary salt reductions by food manufacturers and retailers are having a positive effect. People are also much more aware that 75% of the salt they eat is in the food they buy and so are making the effort to check the labels when choosing products and adding less salt to the food cook and eat.

However, salt reduction is a slow process. We’re all used to salty tasting food and one of the commonest complaints is that low-salt food tastes bland. What a sad fact that so much of what we eat contains so much salt that we’ve forgotten what food tastes like without it. We know that our taste buds can adjust to lower salt foods in a relatively short period, and some manufacturers report that the removal of salt from product such as pizzas has resulted in a more authentic taste, with the taste of ingredients, such as herbs, re-emerging.  I can vouch for that!