Sodium reduction


Shaking up the salt supply chain


It has long been accepted that high salt consumption drives up blood pressure, causing greater risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke and premature death. That belief, however, requires hard data to back it up and new research on salt substitutes has proven that ditching regular salt can bring great health benefi ts. Jim Banks speaks to Dr Bruce Neal, executive director at The George Institute for Global Health Australia and professor of Medicine at the University of New South Wales Sydney, and Dr Monique Tan, NIHR advanced fellow at Queen Mary University of London, to fi nd out more.


odium chloride, known to all by the generic term ‘salt’, is the principal source of sodium in today’s diet. Through multiple lines of research including epidemiology, migration studies and population-based interventions, it is clear that sodium in our diet – our salt intake – is directly linked to changes in blood pressure. The more salt we eat, the higher our blood pressure. “Though the human body does need a very small amount of sodium to function properly, most people


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nowadays consume too much salt,” remarks Dr Monique Tan, NIHR Advanced Fellow at Queen Mary University of London. “Of all dietary risk factors, our current high salt intake is estimated to be responsible for most deaths and disability worldwide – meaning that our excess salt consumption is more harmful to health than our low fruits or vegetable intake or our soft drink consumption, for example.”


The link is strong enough for national governments and global health organisations to issue guidelines on


Ingredients Insight / www.ingredients-insight.com


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