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29 January 2007 Consensus Action on Salt and Health CASH celebrates progress on UK salt reduction Public urged to boycott foods that are still unnecessarily high in salt New research from Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH), to coincide with Salt Awareness Week (Jan 29th Feb 4th), shows that many foods now have significantly less salt added than a few years ago. Now that lower salt alternatives exist for nearly all categories of foods, the time has come for the consumer to boycott those that still have large and unnecessary amounts of salt added. CASH was set up 10 years ago, and was the first organisation to call for a sustained reduction in the amount of salt added to foods in order to lower blood pressure and thereby reduce the number of people dying and suffering from strokes and heart attacks, two of our biggest killers, said Professor Graham MacGregor, Chairman of CASH. Over the years we have surveyed many food categories and highlighted the foods with the highest salt contents. In this latest survey, we revisited 127 products we have previously named and shamed to see how their salt contents have changed. We also looked at some examples of high-salt foods for which lower-salt alternatives now exist. I am very pleased to say that two thirds of the foods we re-surveyed (66%) have reduced their salt concentration. This is really good news, as research shows that for every 1 gram per day average reduction in the UK populations intake of salt, 7,000 deaths from strokes and heart attacks would be prevented [Ref 1]. Birds Eye, New Covent Garden Soups, Heinz and most supermarkets should be congratulated on their progress in doing what we have asked for and reducing the amount of salt they add to their foods. By the end of 2007 Walkers will have reduced their salt contribution to the British diet by 25% compared to the start of 2004 and we hope other snack manufacturers will follow their example. Most cornflakes in the UK now have around two thirds the amount of salt they contained in 2004, (a 30% reduction) and Quaker Oats have reformulated their Oat Krunchies into Oat Crisp with only a quarter of their previous salt content. However, some products still contain very high levels of salt. For instance we recently found a Sainsburys product Oat and Bran Flakes with 2.4g of salt per 100g. As a comparison, Atlantic seawater contains 2.5g of salt per 100g. With so many alternative cereals available with far lower salt contents, we want people to stop buying high salt products like this. Products found to have a high salt content include:
These products, several of them aimed at children, are all high in salt, and would qualify for a red label under the FSA traffic light labelling system, said Jo Butten, Nutritionist for CASH. In every case there are lower salt alternatives on the market and we now feel that people should boycott these persistently high-salt products. If sales of these products fall, the manufacturers will be forced to reformulate them, so we would urge shoppers not to buy products that contain either more than 1.25g of salt (0.5g of sodium) per 100g or more than 2.4g of salt per serving. Bread is the largest source of salt in the UK diet, and reductions in the amount of salt added have been made by many bakers, with many loaves now containing around 0.8g 1.0g of salt per 100g. For instance, a white crusty Farmhouse loaf bought from Marks and Spencer in September 2004 contained 1.75g of salt per 100g, whereas the same product bought at the end of 2006 contained around half this amount 0.9g salt per 100g. However, some bread still contains as much as 1.5g of salt per 100g. CASH wants people to avoid buying Tescos Stayfresh Medium Sliced Wholemeal bread (1.5g salt per 100g) and choose Sainsburys I Stay Fresher For Longer Medium Sliced Wholemeal bread instead, as it contains much less salt - 0.9g per 100g. Indeed, any bread that contains more than 1.25g of salt per 100g should be boycotted, as lower salt alternatives exist. The UK is leading the world on salt reduction many of our food manufacturers should be congratulated on the effort they have made to reduce the amount of salt they add to our foods, said Professor MacGregor. This proves that lower salt versions can be developed and we must now support the lower salt products and vote with our feet when it comes to the ones that have not been reformulated or still contain unnecessarily high amounts of salt. If we halve our salt intake, i.e. make a reduction of 6g/day from the current intake of 10-12g, we will save approximately 70,000 people from developing strokes and heart attacks each year, 35,000 of which are fatal [Ref 2]. For more information, please contact:
Notes to Editors and References:Refs. 1 and 2: The calculations of 7,000 lives saved for each 1g drop in daily population intake of salt and 35,000 lives saved if the 6g target is reached (down from an average of 11g) are taken from: Feng J He & Graham A MacGregor. How far should salt intake be reduced? Hypertension. 2003; 42: 1093-1099.Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition recommended salt intakes for children and adults:
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