Dave Monro, of the Heart Foundation of New Zealand,
reflects on efforts to reduce salt content in processed
food. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
More work is needed to reduce the excessively high salt
intake of New Zealanders and to counter the resulting "very
serious" health problems, Dave Monro, of the Heart Foundation,
says.
Mr Monro, of Auckland, yesterday gave a talk in Dunedin on a
new HeartSAFE initiative, involving the food industry and
several other key groups, which aims to further develop
voluntary salt reduction initiatives undertaken by New
Zealand food companies.
His talk was on the final day of the Dietitians New Zealand
conference, at the University of Otago St David lecture
complex. More than 200 attended.
New Zealanders consume an average of 9g of salt each day, 3g
over the recommended upper limit, and double the suggested
dietary target.
Excessive salt intake contributes to higher blood pressure
and other adverse health effects.
It has been estimated that reducing the intake of sodium, the
harmful part of salt, by 25% would prevent nearly 1000 deaths
a year from heart attack and stroke.
Mr Monro, the foundation food industry setting manager, noted
that about 80% of average dietary salt intake among New
Zealanders came from processed food.
Excessive salt consumption was "a very serious issue for New
Zealanders" and was also a big problem in other developed
countries, such as Australia and Britain.
"But the good thing is there has been some fantastic work
done by the food industry that we can learn from and head
towards more efforts in sodium reduction," he said in an
interview.
In recent years, the foundation and bread manufacturers had
worked together and voluntary steps by companies had resulted
in the salt content of high-volume white bread being cut from
550mg per 100g of bread, to 450mg.
Other food companies had also made significant cuts in the
salt content of other processed foods.
Facilitated by the foundation, HeartSAFE was a collaborative
public-private venture that included food companies, the New
Zealand Food Safety Authority, industry associations and
individual experts in specific fields.
Mr Monro has a BSc in human nutrition and a postgraduate
diploma in dietetics from the University of Otago.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.