Meals {industry} exhibits ‘stalled progress’ to cut back salt intakes, new evaluation finds

A research led by researchers from the College of Oxford discovered that, total, the common salt content material of meals merchandise offered at supermarkets confirmed no change between 2015 and 2020. The outcomes have been revealed in PLOS Medication.

Extra salt consumption will increase the danger of hypertension and is regarded as liable for no less than 2.5 million deaths worldwide every year, largely from strokes and heart problems (World Well being Group).

Lowering salt consumption is subsequently a public well being precedence. Since 2003, the UK Authorities has set a collection of voluntary targets to encourage the meals {industry} to reformulate merchandise to include much less salt. These targets will not be legally-binding, and it has been unclear how a lot progress has been made lately.

To research this, researchers from the College of Oxford assessed whether or not the quantity of salt in a variety of various meals offered in supermarkets had modified between 2015 and 2020. The research was primarily based on the 9 grocery meals classes that contribute essentially the most to adults’ salt consumption within the UK. For every year, the evaluation included roughly 8,000-9,500 meals merchandise from 400 totally different manufacturers.

Key findings:

• The common salt content material of all meals merchandise within the research fell by 5%, from 1.04g per 100g in 2015, to 0.99g per 100g in 2020, though this was not statistically vital.
• The largest reductions have been seen in breakfast cereals (-16%) and processed beans, potatoes and greens (-11%), however there was no change for bread (-2%) and prepared meals (+1%). None of those modifications have been statistically vital.
• The classes with the very best salt content material in 2020 have been savory snacks (1.6g per 100g on common) and cheese (1.6g per 100g). Merchandise with greater than 1.5g salt per 100g are classed as ‘excessive’ in salt.
• The overall quantity of salt offered from all meals merchandise decreased from 2.41g per individual per day in 2015, to 2.25g in 2020: a discount of 0.16g per individual (6.7%). A lot of the salt offered got here from three classes: bread (24%), meat, seafood and alternate options (19%), and cheese (12%).
• For sure merchandise (prepared meals, pizzas and soups) the quantity of salt offered elevated, with any discount of salt content material offset by rising gross sales.
• Total, there was little change within the common salt content material and whole quantity of salt offered from these meals.

The research didn’t embrace desk salt or salt consumed at eating places, cafes, or quick meals, therefore the whole quantity of salt consumed per individual shall be a lot greater.

In accordance with the analysis group, a number of causes could clarify why little latest progress has been made to cut back salt in meals merchandise. Reformulating meals merchandise might be technically difficult, particularly the place salt acts as a preservative; there might be shopper resistance to low salt varieties; and there was a latest shift in focus by {industry} and coverage makers in direction of sugar and calorie discount as an alternative.

Lead writer of the research, Dr. Lauren Bandy (Nuffield Division of Main Care Well being Sciences, Oxford College) says, “our outcomes show that total progress to cut back salt consumption has stalled. Voluntary targets alone could also be inadequate to realize the Authorities’s goal of a inhabitants salt consumption of lower than 6g per day and extra coverage measures is likely to be wanted to realize additional progress. This might embrace necessary reporting of salt gross sales by producers to enhance transparency—as has been known as for within the Nationwide Meals Technique.”

Professor Graham MacGregor, Professor of Cardiovascular Medication and Chairman of Motion on Salt (who weren’t straight concerned within the research), says that “lowering salt is essentially the most cost-effective measure for decreasing blood stress and lowering the variety of individuals struggling and dying from strokes, coronary heart illness and life altering disabilities. The UK was as soon as thought-about world-leading in our method to salt discount, however this paper and lots of others earlier than it makes it clear that the voluntary method is not match for objective.”

The 9 classes of meals merchandise included within the evaluation have been: bread; breakfast cereals; butter and spreads; cheese; meat, seafood and alternate options; processed beans, potatoes and greens; prepared meals, soup and pizza; sauces and condiments; and savory snacks.

Data on the salt content material of meals was sourced from two databases that acquire product info (together with nutrient composition information) from the web sites of the main UK supermarkets. One in every of these platforms, foodDB, was constructed by Oxford College researchers and collects info on round 120,000 merchandise every week throughout the UK. Retail gross sales information have been obtained from Euromonitor Worldwide, a non-public market analysis firm that’s consultant of the entire packaged meals market.