UK coalition government dampened salt reduction efforts, say experts

UK health experts say that the country’s coalition government has diluted a programme that was aimed at the reduction of salt content in food items.

According to a report published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the coalition government formed in 2010 transferred responsibility for nutrition from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to the Department of Health, which reduced focus on the salt reduction programme that was started in 2000, following the formation of FSA.

The report was led by Queen Mary, University of London professor of cardiovascular medicine Graham MacGregor and his team.

The researchers said in the report that five years after the FSA set up targets of reducing salt content in food items, the average salt intake among people had been reduced by around 10-40%.

The move led to a fall in the average intake of salt by 15% from 9.5g/day in 2003 to 8.1g/day in 2011, which also resulted in a decrease in blood pressure, death from stroke and ischaemic heart disease.

An estimated 9000 deaths due to stroke and ischaemic heart disease across the UK are said to have been prevented, which resulted in savings of around £1.5bn in the UK.

However, Andrew Lansley, the health minister in 2011, launched the responsibility deal to make the alcohol and food industries responsible for reducing alcohol and improving nutrition. This move did not have specific targets for the reduction of salt content.

In 2014, new salt targets were set after the appointment of new health minister Anna Soubry, but these were not as low as the ones previously suggested. The report claimed that this happened due to the lobbying by the food industry.

The report said that between 2010 and 2014, around 0.9g/day of salt reduction was lost based on the trend of salt reduction between 2005 and 2011.

"If no salt reduction was achieved over this period, the lost 0.9g/day corresponds to around 6,000 deaths from stroke and heart attack," the report claimed.

Calling the food industry the biggest and most powerful in the world, the authors urged for a need of stronger control similar to the tobacco industry.

Apart from salt content, the report has also called for a reduction of sugars and fats in foods to ensure a decrease in obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

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Image: The BMJ report stated that salt limitations had prevented an estimated 9000 deaths across the UK. Photo: courtesy of Mister GC/freedigitalphotos.net.