Blood Pressure Association Comment - Food Standards Agency Revised Salt Targets

Main Category: Hypertension
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 22 May 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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UK charity the Blood Pressure Association has responded to the publication of revised salt reduction targets by the Food Standards Agency:

Mike Rich, Executive Director of the Blood Pressure Association, said: "We are a nation addicted to salt, and the food industry has a huge responsibility to help us wean ourselves off the 'white stuff'.*

"It's encouraging to see the work being done to reduce the salt content of many of our manufactured foods, but it's disappointing that the original targets for bread - a staple of our diets and a major contributor to our daily salt intake - are being relaxed.

"Some of the leading retailers have shown it is possible to achieve and even exceed the initial targets for reducing salt in bread, so this should be the case for all. Until then, we would urge the UK public to use their loaves and go for the lowest salt options when choosing their daily bread."

*Salt raises blood pressure, which dramatically increases risk of heart attack and stroke.

Reducing salt intake by just one more gram a day would prevent almost 6,000 deaths a year (Professor Graham MacGregor, '100 people will die today...', CASH press release, Dec 2003).

Source
Blood Pressure Association