Australian salt reduction campaign begins
A five year salt reduction campaign in Australia – Drop the Salt! – has united health professionals, the food industry, government, scientists and consumer organisations in a commitment to act to reduce salt intakes in Australia.
This national effort has been initiated by the Australian Division of the World Action on Salt and Health (AWASH).
It is supporting a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report which has highlighted the strong scientific evidence for the damage to health caused by eating too much salt, and is calling for countries around the globe to urgently adopt national approaches to reduce the salt content of foods.
The WHO report, Reducing Salt Intake in Populations, emphasised the strong link between dietary salt and chronic diseases, particularly stroke and heart attack, Australia’s leading killers. It referred to the urgent need to implement salt reduction strategies in countries to tackle the increasing mortality attributable to high blood pressure and other salt-related health problems and the need to work closely with food manufacturers as the cornerstone of any successful national salt reduction campaign.
The AWASH campaign will incorporate the key elements for tackling dietary salt reduction noted in the WHO report into its main strategies, which include reducing the salt added in food production, improving information on salt levels for consumers, and raising awareness of the health issues.
