A Little Less Salt could make a Big Difference to Our Health

Salt Awareness Week
21-24th March 2011

A Little Less Salt could make a Big Difference to Our Health

The Heart Foundation will use this year’s Salt Awareness Week to urge New Zealanders to cut their daily salt intake by half a teaspoon.

“On the face of it, half a teaspoon of salt sounds like a small amount but an extra half teaspoon can be very damaging to our health,” says Delvina Gorton, National Nutrition Advisor at the Heart Foundation. “ In reality, it’s very difficult to gauge how much salt we’re eating because a lot of it is in processed foods like bread and cereals and processed meat.”

Raising awarenss of how much ‘invisible salt’ New Zealanders are eating is part of a long term strategy aimed at improving the nation’s health. New Zealanders are eating far too much salt, a major cause of high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke

The Heart Foundation has been working alongside New Zealand’s food industry for some time on initiatives that have seen a reduction in salt in some bread and cereals. The work is on-going with other areas of the food production sector.

Delvina Gorton says there are a number of ways to reduce salt, including-
- Choosing lower salt options by checking food labels while shopping (salt is listed as sodium on the label)

- Eating less foods that are high in salt

- Not adding salt to food that is prepared and eaten in the home

The Heart Foundation remains committed to its vision of ‘healthy hearts for all New Zealanders’ and will push its ‘cut back by half a teaspoon’ message during Salt Awareness Week from 21st-24th March, 2011.

Key facts about heart disease in New Zealand
• Cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke) causes 40% of all deaths annually in our country - approximately 10,500 people each year.
• Heart disease is the single biggest cause of death for both men and women in this country, much of which is premature and preventable.
• Female deaths from heart disease are four times more than female deaths from breast cancer.
• On average, seven New Zealand women will die of heart disease every day.
• Sixteen New Zealanders die each day, or one person every 90 minutes, as a result of heart disease.
• One in twenty adults has been diagnosed with heart disease. That's approximately 161,000 adults and includes 118,500 with angina and 89,400 who have had a heart attack resulting in them being hospitalised.
• There are more people living with heart disease now than ever before.

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