14 DAY TRIAL // A new study reveals that a mandatory limitation on the amounts of salt allowed in processed food could be significantly more effective in reducing public health risks than allowing the industry to curb its own use of the chemical.
The work, conducted by Australian researchers, found that limitations imposed by health agencies would be some 20 times more effective at reducing salt consumption, and the subsequent health risks associated with it, than allowing for the industry to set its own limits.
Excessive salt consumption increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, and researchers say that this is a matter of public health, since some people's choice put a huge strains on national health budgets.
This type of problems are most common in the developed world, where high living standards allow the general population to buy a lot of processed foods.
In the new investigation, scientists from the University of Queensland placed the public health benefits and cost effectiveness of introducing such national policies in the balance, and determined that implementing the policies is the best way to go.
Details of the new research appear in the November 1 issue of the medical journal Heart. The paper looks at how mandatory and voluntary salt reductions affect a person over the course of a life time.
In order to get some perspective on the issue, the researchers looked at the Australian “Tick” program, under which manufacturers of processed foods are allowed the right to put a special endorsement logo on their products, if they voluntarily reduce the amount of salt they use.
This approach proved effective in preventing some 1 percent of heart diseases resulting from excessive salt use. Additionally, the costs associated with doing so were minimal.
But the models showed that, if governments stepped in and regulated salt use, then public health risks decreased by as much as 18 percent. Common products such as bread, margarine and cereal were kept in mind when calculating the effects of the policies.
Additional factors that were taken into account during the study included the amounts of each products that manufacturers typically sell in a year, the average consumption level, the costs associated with reinforcing the new legislation, and so on.
Results showed that the overall population of Australia would gain an estimated 610,000 extra years of healthy life from the mandatory reduction.
The investigators took into account salt reduction legislation that would limit the amount of the chemical consumed daily to the recommended dosage of 6 grams, My Health News Daily reports.