Salt Manufacturers Association logo salt association
  press office  

tab home

tab salt suppliers

tab about salt

tab de-icing

tab salt & health

tab press office
tab releases
tab key facts
tab features
tab interviews
tab photos
tab contacts

tab research

tab links

tab contact

spacer

releases

22/07/2008

Salt Association response to FSA announcement

The Salt Association’s response to today’s announcement from the Food Standards Agency on salt reduction targets is below.

Peter Sherratt, General Secretary of the Salt Association said: “The new targets are further evidence of the Food Standards Agency’s nanny-state blanket approach to telling us all how much salt we should consume. The truth is that the blanket is full of holes and is being questioned by an increasing number of scientific experts*.

“It has never been proved that salt causes high blood pressure, nor has it been proved that salt reduction lowers blood pressure for all of us.

“There is, on the other hand, growing evidence to suggest that some sectors of the population may actually be at risk from following blanket advice. They include the elderly, those who sweat heavily when they exercise and also pregnant women.”

Mr Sherratt added: “A one size suits all approach is manifestly inappropriate, confusing to the public and may be dangerous. It is essential that the Government should establish the facts once and for all by instigating large-scale trials to evaluate long-term outcomes.”

 

Ends

 

Notes to editors:

  • The Salt Association (previously the Salt Manufacturers’ Association) is the trade association representing UK manufacturers of salt, including domestic salt, catering salt, water-softening salt, industrial salt and de-icing salt. More detail on its stance on the health issue can be found at www.saltsense.co.uk.
  • For further information on the Salt Association's stance on salt and health, please visit the press office at www.saltsense.co.uk. The media resources available there also include downloadable photographs.
  • * Independent experts you might like to talk to include Dr Joel Dunning, consultant in cardiothoracic surgery at James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, He reviewed 462 research papers from around the world and found no conclusive proof of a link between salt and blood pressure.

He was quoted in the Mail on Sunday as follows:

After studying 462 research papers from around the world, Dr Dunning's team found it was impossible to prove a        connection between salt and heart disease because of a 'lack of adequately powered randomised trials or observational studies conducted with sufficient rigour'.

In their view, organisations such as the Food Standards Agency have simply accepted 'received wisdom' on the subject without checking the evidence.

Full text here: http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/health/article-491578/Keep-eating-bacon-butties-New-study-finds-NO-evidence-link-salt-heart-disease.html

< Previous - releases

 

 
spacerValid HTML 4.01!