Australia: Cutting salt could save 6000 lives

Reducing salt intake across the country by three grams a day could save 6000 lives a year, according to the National Heart Foundation of Australia. The average Australian consumes around nine grams of salt a day, three grams more than the recommended amount for healthy people. "As about three quarters of the salt eaten by Australians comes from processed foods rather than salt added at the table, the most effective way to cut salt is to change the ways foods are manufactured," said Dr. Robert Grenfell, Clinical Issues Director at the Heart Foundation. Heart Foundation email dated17 May 2012.

Date Posted: 9 June 2012