Imposing limits on salt, fat could save 1,000 lives

More than a thousand people annually could be saved from a fatal stroke or heart problem if the Government forced through policies to limit salt and fat intake.

The claim has been made in a study from the Health Research Board’s centre of diet and health, which said Ireland’s addiction to trans fats, saturated fats, and salt is guaranteeing a surge in early deaths.

According to the research, a massive 1,070 stroke and heart deaths — the equivalent of one in four of the fatalities — could be prevented every year by reducing salt intake by 3g per day, trans fats by 1% of energy intake and saturated fat by 3% of energy intake. The study team said the “substantial” move was “politically feasible”, but it stressed even a “conservative” reduction of salt by 1g per day, trans-fats by 0.5% of energy intake and saturated fat by 1% of energy intake could still save 395 lives annually.

“Our study provides valuable evidence on the impact of population-level changes in dietary intake,” said chief researcher Ivan Perry, who is professor of epidemiology and public health at University College Cork.

“Achieving a modest improvement [in diet] could save 395 lives each year.

“Doing nothing, or simply monitoring the situation, could result in dire public health consequences for the Irish population, both in the short and the long term.”

The Health Research Board claim follows similar World Health Organisation findings, which said four out of every five premature heart and stroke deaths could be avoided if people and policymakers paid more attention to the impact of an unhealthy diet and lifestyle on the body.

As a result, the organisation has urged the Dept of Health to redouble its efforts to restrict the impact of food high in fat and salt on the Irish market, along with suggestions that fruit and vegetable prices be lowered.

Some of these measures have already been put place, with Health Minister James Reilly in recent months pushing for a calorie-count figure to be included on all restaurant menus in order to help improve public health.

In 2011, dietary fat made up just over a third of the food energy intake for 18- to 64-year-olds in Ireland, with two thirds of people in this country ignoring recommendations that no more than 35% of food energy should come from fat content.

The Irish Heart Foundation has repeatedly warned that an unhealthy diet and lifestyle is a major factor in the nation’s heart and stroke mortality figures.

While the number of heart and stroke deaths in this country has fallen in recent decades, Ireland is still above the EU average for premature fatalities from the conditions.

*Further details are available from the Irish Heart Foundation at www.irishheart.ie or the Health Research Board at www.hrb.ie.