Study Links High Intake of Salt to Social Inequalities

Intake of salt remains high in people belonging to low socio-economic positions as compared to those from the higher socio-economic positions.

The study led by researchers at the University of Warwick, focused on the geographical distribution of dietary intake of salt among citizens of Britain. They highlight that hardly any changes have taken place in the intake of salt since 2000-01 to 2011, despite the dramatic drop in intake of salt in the last 10 years. This is the first study that looked at the social inequalities following the national salt reduction programme.

This was carried out by the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Nutrition, based at Warwick Medical School. The researchers also looked at the salt intake and its association with manual occupation and educational achievement, both of which are indicators of socio-economic position and key determinants of health.

For this study, the researchers worked on the data retrieved from the British National Diet and Nutrition Survey between 2008 and 2011 that includes a sample of 1,027 men and women aged between 19-64 years, residing in Britain. They assessed the intake of salt using a 4-day food diary, assessing the intake of salt from food. The salt was added at table and during cooking was not measured. 

Professor Francesco Cappuccio, senior author and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre, said: "Whilst we are pleased to record an average national reduction in salt consumption coming from food of nearly a gram per day, we are disappointed to find out that the benefits of such a programme have not reached those most in need. These results are important as people of low socio-economic background are more likely to develop high blood pressure (hypertension) and to suffer disproportionately from strokes, heart attacks and renal failure."

The researchers noticed a drop in dietary intake of salt from 2000-1 to 2008-11. There was a 0.9 g of salt per day. 

Professor Cappuccio continued: "The diet of disadvantaged socio-economic groups tends to be made up of low-quality, salt-dense, high-fat, high-calorie unhealthy cheap foods. We have seen a reduction in salt intake in Britain thanks to a policy, which included awareness campaigns, food reformulation and monitoring. However, clearly poorer households still have less healthy shopping baskets and the broad reformulation of foods high in salt has not reached them as much as we would have hoped."

The finding was documented in BMJ Open Journal.