Making companies use less salt in packaged foods in Australia could save up to 3000 lives and prevent around 40,000 heart attacks and strokes over a decade, research has found.
It could also avoid 32,000 new cases of kidney disease and save $3.25 billion in healthcare costs for these diseases.
That’s according to new research published in The Lancet Public Health.
It compares the Australian Government’s current voluntary benchmarks with the higher targets recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“Our study projected enormous reductions in both cases and deaths from heart attacks, strokes and other heart conditions, as well as from kidney disease, within just a decade if the WHO reduction targets were mandated,” Professor Jason Wu, Head of Nutrition Science at The George Institute and Professor at UNSW Medicine and Health’s School of Population Health and an author on the study, said.
“Beyond ten years, we also showed that this reduction in disease burden could generate billions of dollars in savings from healthcare costs related to these diseases,” he said
Excessive sodium (salt) intake is a major killer globally, contributing to cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease, the research says.
In Australia, average daily consumption is almost double what is recommended by the WHO.
Most comes from salt hidden in foods like processed meats, bread and bakery products, cereal and grain products, and dairy products, the study said.
The study was led by researchers at The George Institute for Global Health in collaboration with Griffith University, UNSW Sydney and Johns Hopkins University.
The WHO recommends reformulating food products to reduce sodium levels as part of its goal to decrease sodium consumption by 30 percent globally by 2025.
This is also a component of the Australian Federal Government’s Healthy Food Partnership (HFP), launched in 2015, which asks the food industry to reduce sodium levels across 27 food categories, among other measures to support healthy eating.
“Australia’s sodium reformulation targets not only remain voluntary, but are also less rigorous than the WHO sodium benchmarks,” Prof Wu added.
“We see industry consistently failing to meet voluntary targets and this weak regulatory system means Australia is missing an opportunity to protect its people from harmful effects of eating too much sodium.
“Other countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Spain and Malaysia have adopted mandatory sodium limits, so it can be done.”
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