Canadians Plan to Cut Back on Salt Intake

Canadians see the reduction of salt consumption as a key to saving lives

A federal task force announced that they have a plan that aims to reduce salt consumption by Canadians down to a teaspoon per day. The reduction I salt intake is seen as key in saving lives because there will be less health problems which are tied to higher amounts.

Critics however said that the plan has only received a lukewarm response from government and the food industry as a whole.

The report, released Thursday by the Sodium Working Group, lays out the steps in decreasing salt intake from 3,400 mg to 2,300 mg a day.

Manufacturers typically add salt to their products, representing 80 percent of the sodium ingested by Canadians. But the group members acknowledge that any move by the food companies is voluntary, and the federal government’s health ministry has not thrown its full support either.

“I don’t think this report and the strategies are going to be sufficient to achieve the reduction of sodium,” said Kevin Willis, member of the group and director of partnerships at the Canadian Stroke Network. “Every year that we delay there are ten of thousands of premature deaths and cardiovascular events, billions of dollars of health-care costs, that could be avoided.”

The objective of the working group at the onset was to encourage voluntary measures by the food manufacturers instead of implementing any formal directive from the government.

The reports also called out to the food industry for revamping nutrition labels to highlight sodium content on their products.

Posted by George Daniels on Saturday July 31 2010, 11:39 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0