Reducing the UK's salt intake: potential benefits
We commissioned a study into how reducing daily salt intake could help reduce heart disease and strokes.
Download the report below or read on for a summary of our findings.
Download the summary and analysis
Public knowledge on salt
In 2023, as a follow up to this research, we published findings from a survey of over 2000 British adults conducted by YouGov. The survey found that just under two out of three people (65%) were not confident in estimating their daily salt intake, underlining the need for Government action to reduce salt in everyday foods and make healthy eating easier for everyone.
Read about the findings of our polling.
Health benefits of reducing salt intake
In our study, we looked at what could happen if every adult in the UK met World Health Organization (WHO) salt consumption guidelines by 2030.
If we achieved these ambitious aims, we could see these changes by 2035:
- up to 1.4 million fewer new cases of high blood pressure
- up to 135,000 fewer new cases of coronary heart disease
- up to 49,000 fewer new cases of stroke
- more than 450,000 more years living in perfect health – this is called ‘quality-adjusted life years’ (QALYs).
Graph showing potential reduction in high blood pressure (hypertension)
There is also a table showing potential reduction in high blood pressure (hypertension).
Graph showing potential increase in quality-adjusted life years
There is also a table showing potential increase in quality-adjusted life years.
Economic benefits of reducing salt intake
The changes could save the UK economy up to £11.4 billion by 2035.
This is because:
- people would need to use the NHS less
- people would be more productive because of better health and fewer people needing to give informal care to loved ones.
£6.7 billion of this would be direct cost savings, 70.3% of which are related to hypertension.
£4.7 billion would be indirect costs saved because of fewer cases of stroke and coronary heart disease.
Graph showing potential cost savings
There are also tables showing potential cost savings.
Why salt intake matters
Eating too much salt can raise your blood pressure. This increases the risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases.
Higher intakes of salt are associated with:
- a 23% increase in the risk of stroke
- a 14% increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease.
You can find out more about the risks of eating too much salt and how to cut down.
How to reduce the UK’s salt intake
On average the UK population is eating too much salt.
For example, working-age adults in England consume an average of 8.4g of salt a day.
This is 40% above the UK’s recommended maximum intake of 6g, and almost 70% above the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 5g.
Our recommendations are to:
- fully implement commitments from the Government’s 2020 obesity strategy to reduce promotion and advertising of less healthy food
- better integrate salt into policies to improve diet and health
- raise public awareness of the potential risks of eating too much salt
- make it mandatory for food manufacturers to reduce the amount of salt in more of their products.
Bold action will be critical for addressing hypertension, boosting the nation’s heart health and, ultimately, saving lives.
Getting food manufacturers to change the amount of salt in their products
As much as 85% of the salt we eat is already in our food when we buy it.
So it’s important to get food manufacturers to reduce the levels of salt in the food on supermarket shelves and in restaurants. This is called ‘reformulation’.
It’s important for everyone to think about the amount of salt they’re consuming. But reformulation can help people reduce the amount of salt in their diet without making major changes to how they live.
In the early 2000s the food industry made good progress with reducing salt in food. But more recently, progress has stalled. Only 52% of the voluntary salt reduction targets set in 2014 had been met by 2017.
By contrast, the mandatory Soft Drinks Industry Levy has been successful in reducing the amount of sugar purchased by UK households.
The Government should consider a mandatory measure to get manufacturers to reduce salt in food. For example, the National Food Strategy suggests an industry levy on salt and sugar.
How we did our research
We commissioned consultancy HealthLumen to model how reducing average daily salt intake to UK and WHO guideline levels could help reduce hypertension across the UK population.
The modelling focused on an ambitious intervention scenario in which everyone’s salt consumption was reduced to 6g a day by 2024, and 5g a day by 2030.
In this model, the 5g a day intake was maintained until 2035 – the date by which the Government aims for people to be enjoying at least five extra healthy, independent years of life.
This was compared to a baseline scenario in which current salt consumption remains stable from 2021 to 2035.
You can read more about the methodology in: