Australia answers WHO call to lower salt

A five-year salt reduction campaign will launch in Australia in response to a World Health Organisation (WHO) call for countries to adopt national approaches to reduce the salt content of food.

The WHO request follows the release of a new report that highlights scientific evidence that eating too much salt causes damage to health.

The "Drop the Salt!' Campaign will launch in Sydney on 15 May and has been designed to unite health professionals, the food industry, government, scientists and consumer organisations to act together to reduce population salt intakes in Australia.

The national effort was initiated by the Australian Division of the World Action on Salt and Health (AWASH). One of the key contributors to the international conference that resulted in the WHO report, Dr Bruce Neal is also the Chair of AWASH.

"We're keen to get things moving in Australia, because salt levels in the Australian diet are high and the adverse health impacts are enormous," he said.

The AWASH campaign will incorporate the key elements for tackling dietary salt reduction suggested in the WHO report:

• Reducing the salt added in food production
• Improving information on salt levels for consumers
• Raising awareness of the health issues

"Reducing salt is so important because salt has harmful effects on almost everyone in the population. Nearly everyone's blood pressure is raised by salt and over the course of people's lives this contributes to hypertension in millions of Australians. On the positive side this means that salt reduction could lower the risk for almost everyone too," Neal said.

The AWASH campaign is the first cohesive national salt reduction effort in Australia. It is backed by scientific evidence with clear targets, and a coordinated strategy for raising consumer awareness and engaging positively with the food industry.