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Do we eat too much salt? Yes, says a leading academic who believes Kiwis should take a hard look at what goes into their food. Jamie Morton reports
New Zealanders are eating on average one-and-a-half teaspoons of salt each day, prompting a call for Kiwis to halve their intake.
University of Auckland Emeritus Professor Robert Beaglehole said New Zealanders are consuming an average of about 9g of salt each day and need to slash their salt intake by at least half.
"The World Health Organisation recommends a daily intake of between 3g to 6g, so ideally we should only be eating half as much as we do," said Dr Beaglehole, a former director of the WHO's department of chronic disease and health promotion.
"Too much salt in the diet leads to high blood pressure, which increases the risk of stroke and heart disease. Salt intake is responsible for about one in three of new cases of high blood pressure. A high salt intake is also a cause of kidney disease and stomach cancer, and may also contribute to osteoporosis."
Dr Beaglehole said the necessary reduction in salt consumption would be possible only if food manufacturers gradually reduced the salt content of their products.
"About three-quarters of the salt is hidden in processed or packaged foods, including bread and processed meats such as salami and bacon, smoked foods, Marmite, food canned in brine, tomato sauces, chips and instant noodles. So there's a need for serious action by manufacturers of these products. Foods like bread, breakfast cereals, cheese, baked beans and crackers can contribute significantly to our daily salt intake because we tend to eat a lot of them."
Salt is often called sodium in the nutrition information panels on packaged food.
This issue came under the spotlight this month with World Salt Awareness Week. Its theme, "Salt and Men's Health", was chosen after UK research showed men ate more salt than women and on average had higher blood pressure than women.
They were also less likely to have their blood pressure measured, to take action to reduce it when it is raised or to take blood-pressure lowering drugs. Stroke Foundation of New Zealand chief executive Mark Vivian said New Zealand's results were likely to be similar. "Nine grams or 1.5 teaspoons of salt a day is enough to fill two 1.5-litre soft drink bottles a year," he said.
"Because our bodies are designed to retain sodium, a diet high in salt puts our bodies under a lot of strain to get rid of the excess. Reducing our salt intake is a very simple way to improve our health and reduce our risk of stroke and heart disease."
Mr Vivian said Kiwis could cut salt intake to more healthy levels by increasing consumption of fresh foods and cutting back on fast foods. "It's important when buying processed packaged foods to check the nutrition information panels and choose lower salt items. Food is low in salt if it has less than 120mg of sodium per 100g of food.
"Just one cup of canned soup can contain more than 50 per cent of the recommended daily salt intake. A serving of some menu items in a restaurant can put a diner over their recommended daily intake in just one meal. And we can use herbs, spices and other seasoning instead of salt when cooking, and at the table, to reduce salt intake without sacrificing flavour."
Even a modest reduction in intake could deliver major benefits and a reduction in stroke deaths and heart disease, he said.
Heart Foundation national nutrition adviser Delvina Gorton urged Kiwis to cut their salt intake by half a teaspoon. Raising awareness of how much "invisible salt" New Zealanders are eating was part of a strategy aimed at improving the nation's health. The Heart Foundation has been working alongside New Zealand's food industry on initiatives that have seen a reduction in salt in some bread and cereals.
Work was ongoing with other areas of the food production sector.
WHAT WE'RE DOING ABOUT IT
Some examples of what is being done to cut the intake of salt:
* Since 1997, Kellogg's has been reducing sodium in its breakfast cereals, among them Kellogg's Sultana Bran (by 59 per cent), Kellogg's All-Bran and Kellogg's All-Bran Wheat Flakes (by 55 per cent), Kellogg's Just Right by (39 per cent), Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes by (37 per cent), and Kellogg's Corn Flakes and Kellogg's Rice Bubbles by (33 per cent).
* Hubbard Foods significantly reduced the level of sodium in all of their cereals several years ago. All their cereals launched last year met specific sodium guidelines.
* Sanitarium continually reviews all of its products in line with its food policy and consumer trends. An ongoing project has seen the company reduce sodium levels in its Skippy Cornflakes (by 31 per cent) and (Ricies by 19 per cent).
* Bluebird Foods is on a journey to transform its product portfolio and has committed to reducing the sodium content across its product range by 25 per cent over five years.
* Nestle has been reducing sodium for a number of years and since 2005 many products have been reformulated. This has resulted in a sodium decrease of up to 25 per cent in a wide range of the products in the Maggi culinary range.
* Mars New Zealand has reduced sodium by an average of 25 per cent across its Kan Tong range and the company has a sodium reduction programme in place across its Uncle Ben's range.
* Heinz Wattie's developed a sodium reduction programme in 2005 to address the salt content of products.
* Fonterra has won international recognition for its breakthrough research which enabled it to produce a reduced-salt cheddar. The company has maintained the full flavour of a standard cheddar, but with 40 per cent less salt.
* George Weston Foods and Goodman Fielder have worked with the Heart Foundation to reduce sodium across a range of breads to a level of 450mg for every 100g.
As a result, the major companies have removed about 150 tonnes of salt from their bread each year.