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20/09/2004

‘Squash Slug’ Says Salt Industry

The Salt Manufacturers Association has today (Sep 20) lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority over the use of a cartoon slug to front a new £4 million salt restriction campaign.

The SMA says that the Food Standards Agency character “Sid the Slug” is based on the fact that salt kills slugs and the assertion that it will also kill humans. The reality, says the SMA, is that salt supports life and there no evidence to show that it has ever been responsible for death.

“Salt certainly kills slugs in your garden but if Sid were a human being it would actually be keeping him alive,” says SMA general secretary Peter Sherratt. “We all have the equivalent of about cupful of salt (250 grammes) at work in our bodies at any time and it is absolutely essential to us.

“We realise that Sid is intended as a fun character but the message he carries is a serious one that is incorrect and potentially very damaging to the image of an essential product.”

The SMA has attacked the government-backed FSA campaign, for ignoring the need for more conclusive research and failing to make a proper assessment of the risks it could pose to some population groups. It believes some groups, such as the elderly and pregnant women, may be at risk from following blanket advice to reduce their salt intake.

Mr Sherratt added: “Sid and the campaign that surrounds him is costing the British taxpayer a massive £4 million, yet the research that is needed to produce conclusive evidence would probably cost little more than £100,000. When it comes to health, aren’t we are all entitled to expect advice based on proper science and not on questionable evidence?”

In support of its case, the SMA points to the Department of Health’s own National Diet and Nutrition Survey, published earlier this year, which concluded that there is no effect on the blood pressure of healthy people from eating salt. The survey found that the major correlation was between alcohol intake and body mass index and blood pressure.

The SMA believes resources being devoted to blanketing the nation with the salt reduction advice would be better directed to more closely targeting those who are hypertensive and treating them with the highly effective drugs now available, as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommended only last month.

The SMA has launched a website at www.saltsense.co.uk to bring balance to the salt debate.

notes and references

1 International scientists have repeatedly concluded that there is little or no benefit to the general population in population sodium reduction. References include:

• The Department of Health’s own National Diet and Nutrition Survey published earlier this year concluded that there is no significant effect on the blood pressure of healthy people from eating salt.
• The 1988 Intersalt study is one of the prime motivators for the current campaign, yet it failed to prove its own primary hypothesis that systolic blood pressure is associated directly with sodium excretion.
• Several large-scale intervention studies have shown that restriction of sodium in the diet has no effect on diastolic blood pressure and only a minimal effect on systolic blood pressure.
• The National Health Service’s own website includes an evaluation of the evidence base for reduction of salt in the diet which concludes that the calculations are “theoretical” and that the authors have “over-emphasised” a key section. The reviewers suggest that further research is needed.
• Since 1995, 10 studies in the United States have reported on whether low sodium diets produce health benefits. All 10 indicate that, among the general population, lower sodium diets don’t produce health benefits. In fact, not a single study has ever shown improved health outcomes for broad populations on reduced sodium diets.
• An independent review by the Cochrane Library (2004) of advice to reduce dietary salt for prevention of cardiovascular disease concludes: “Intensive interventions, unsuited to primary care or population prevention programmes, provide only minimal reductions in blood pressure during long-term trials. Further evaluations to assess effects on morbidity and mortality outcomes are needed for populations as a whole and for patients with elevated blood pressure”.

2 In the case of the elderly, cutting salt may be dangerous, especially in the summer months. Because they tend to drink less and are less acclimatised to hot weather, salt lost through sweat is not replaced. Their blood pressure rises, so putting added strain on their hearts. For a pregnant woman, a low-salt diet can cause problems with blood volume in the unborn child, which in turn can cause a rise in the mother’s own blood pressure.

3 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. Its members are: British Salt Ltd, Cleveland Potash Ltd, Irish Salt Mining & Exploration Co Ltd, New Cheshire Salt Works Ltd, RHM plc (embracing Centura Foods Ltd and Supreme Salt Co Ltd) and Salt Union Ltd.

4 The UK salt industry produces some two-and-a-half to three million tonnes of salt in a typical year. The greatest proportion (rock salt) is used for de-icing roads in winter. Smaller percentages are used in the chemicals, food manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries and for the softening of water. It has been estimated that salt is used in manufacturing 14,000 products. SMA members employ a total of some 750 people in the UK, the majority in Cheshire but also in the North East and in Northern Ireland.

page from the FSA’s campaign website