Assalted!

Excess dietary salt is one of the world's biggest hidden killers. Too much salt on food causes high blood pressure, which increases the risks of heart attacks and strokes. Salt has also been linked to stomach cancer, kidney disease and osteoporosis (brittle bones). The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends an adult consumption of no more than 5g of salt per day. The average British adult currently daily packs away an average of 8.4g. The British Heart Foundation suggests that, if every UK adult met the WHO limit, there could be up to 1.4m fewer new cases of high blood pressure in the country. There would, consequently, be marked reductions in illness as well as deaths from heart attacks and strokes. Individuals, however, generally find it hard to regulate their salt intake. UK citizens currently get 85% of their salt from purchased foods. They generally don't appreciate that foods like bread, baked beans, tomato juice, cakes and breakfast cereals can have high salt levels. Some even supposedly 'healthy vegan options', contain massive amounts of this condiment (https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/nov/24/the-truth-about-salt-how-to-avoid-one-of-the-worlds-biggest-hidden-killers). Government should increase the taxes on salty products. It should also make it much easier for people to see the salt contents of their foods as well as reminding them of the safe daily limit. Few people can find the time to cook all their food 'from scratch'.