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A UK campaign designed to influence vital nutrition policies affecting
children’s health has been condemned as “shoddy” and not supported by the very scientific study on which it is based.

Citing an editorial appearing in the same journal at the time of publication of a study attempting to link salt with children’s health, the salt industry across the UK, Europe and North America said that the supposed link was entirely explained by the amount of food children ate.

The study is entitled Importance of salt in determining blood pressure in children: meta-analysis of controlled trials by FJ He and GA MacGregor. Promoted by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) to underpin National Salt Awareness Week, it actually shows that salt intake is correlated to children’s calorie intake. The relationship of blood pressure and salt entirely disappears when adjusted for calories.

A spokesman for the Salt Association said: “It’s a shoddy campaign which misrepresents research that shows only that the amount of food children consume affects their health. Salt consumption is merely a by-product. To attempt to pressurise health policy on the basis of such conclusions is dangerous. The results claimed are variable and make no allowance for differences between the sexes and height that can greatly affect blood pressure. It isn’t new and it certainly isn’t helpful.

“Any correlations between food intake and health are simply statistical associations
and not evidence of causation. Normally, such studies are used to generate a
hypothesis that is then tested by formal controlled intervention studies to confirm cause and effect. In this case, CASH has simply started with its preferred hypothesis that salt causes high blood pressure in children. That is simply not scientific.”

The industry also insisted that salt has an important role to play in helping to make vegetables palatable to many children. There is strong evidence to show that a balanced diet built around fruit and vegetables is the best way to tackle blood pressure and that salt intake then becomes irrelevant.

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