Food producers have been told to do more to reduce salt in foods commonly eaten by children after new research showed it increased their blood pressure. The UK's National Diet and Nutrition survey had shown that for every 1g of salt eaten by a child there was a 0.4mm Hg rise in systolic blood pressure. The study had tracked salt intake of more than 2,000 children aged from four to 18 over a week, and the results have just been published in the Journal of Human Hypertension.

Health campaigners today urged parents to check food labels for salt content. They added that because blood pressure tracks from childhood to adult life, reducing salt intake in young people could help reduce their risk of heart disease and stroke in later life. “This is an important finding which confirms that eating more salt increases blood pressure in childhood and also adds extra weight to the current public health campaign to reduce salt in the UK diet,” Professor Malcolm Law, professor of preventive medicine at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, said. Jo Butten, nutritionist for Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) said, “This new research is yet more evidence that children who eat more salt have higher blood pressure in childhood, not just in later life. The message for parents is to check labels, especially on foods such as breakfast cereals and snack products, which they may not expect to contain high levels of salt, and choose the lower salt options”.

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said the industry had taken steps to cut the amount of salt in products. It said in a statement, “Food manufacturers have made huge progress in reducing levels of salt in food. In addition our members provide 'salt equivalent' information on packs as well as the legally required 'sodium' information where practicable”. FDF's last survey shows that members had reformulated an astounding £7.4bn worth of products to have lower levels of salt compared to the year before, while £2.4bn worth of products have been launched with lower salt variants.

NamNews - Friday 7th September 2007

 

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