CASH comment on The BMJ paper
“Salt intake, stroke, and cardiovascular disease: meta-analysis of prospective studies” – Professor Pasquale Strazzullo and colleagues.
Commenting on the work of by Professor Pasquale Strazzullo at the University of Naples, Italy and Professor Francesco Cappuccio at the University of Warwick, UK, and colleagues, Professor Graham MacGregor, Chairman of Consensus Action on Salt and Health said:
"Blood pressure is the biggest cause of death in the world through the strokes and heart attacks it causes. Salt slowly puts up our blood pressure and as this important study clearly demonstrates, is directly responsible for many thousands of strokes, heart attacks and heart failure deaths each year in the UK and the world.
The public health benefits of reducing salt have long been known, and the UK are leading the way in salt reduction, however it is vital that manufacturers and caterers continue to reduce the amount of salt they add to food if we are to save the maximum number of lives.
The targeted reduction in the UK was 3.5g salt/day from 9.5g to the current UK maximum target for salt of 6g, however this study clearly demonstrates that a greater reduction in salt intake would have a much greater benefit"
Click here to view to full paper
Professor MacGregor is available for further comment on phone: 07946 405617
Or contact Katharine Jenner (Campaign Manager) on k.jenner@qmul.ac.uk / 020 7882 6018
