UK Health Agency Calls for Cuts in Salt, Fat in Food
The United Kingdom’s (UK) public health watchdog has issued new guidance that claims salt and saturated fat reduction could prevent 40,000 unnecessary deaths a year from heart disease and stroke.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has called for a maximum daily intake of 6g of salt per adult by 2015 and 3g daily by 2025. In addition, it has recommended that manufacturers reduce the levels of saturated fats in all food products and eliminate the use of trans fats.
The guidance also urges the National Health Service and other policy makers to (i) ensure that low-salt and low-fat foods can be sold for less than their higher-content equivalents; (ii) extend restrictions on TV advertising “for foods high in saturated fats, salt and sugar to 9 p.m. to protect children”; (iii) encourage “local planning authorities to restrict planning permission for take-aways and other food retail outlets in specific areas, such as within walking distance of schools”; and (iv) adopt a “traffic light” color-coded food labeling system depicting levels of salt, fat or sugar. NICE stopped short, however, of supporting a tax on foods perceived as less healthy.
“We know that currently across the UK, people are consuming about 8.5g of salt every day, and that’s two to three times higher than the level our bodies actually need,” said Simon Capewell, vice chair of the guidance group, in a June 22, 2010, news release. “If salt levels in food are reduced by 5 to 10 percent a year, most consumers don’t even notice any difference in taste—their taste buds simply adjust.”
