World Congress of Cardiology 2014 to put spotlight on salt and heart disease deaths

April 28, 2014 Sophie Langley

World Congress of Cardiology will focus on salt

The World Congress of Cardiology, which will convene leading experts from across the world in Melbourne between 4 May 2014 and 7 May 2014, will focus on the importance of national targets to reduce premature mortality related to cardiovascular disease (CVD), such as dietary salt guidelines.

Health experts have agreed that most populations consume too much salt. This has been linked to CVD risk ractor hypertension or raised blood pressure, which cuases 9.4 million of the 17.3 million CVD related deaths each year.

At the World Congress of Cardiology, experts will discuss the benefits and feasibility of food reformulation, and low sodium and salt guidelines, and the approaches needed to encourage uptake at a national level.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that adults should have no more than 5g of salt a day less than one full teaspoon. However, in most countries the average person consumes between 9g and 12g a day. The majority of salt eaten is already in food, with an estimated 75 per cent of salt intake coming from everyday processed foods such as bread, breakfast cereal and processed meats.

Heart disease deaths rising

The World Heart Federation, which organises the Congress said the number of CVD deaths was rising, and is estimated to increase to over 23 million by 2030.

According to the World Heart Federation there have been increasing calls in the international community to further lower the recommended daily salt allowance to reduce premature CVD mortality, however the question of what the ideal target was and how to achieve it still remained.

Questions around salt reduction in food have been an ongoing issue for food manufacturers and health organisations globally. Australian Food News reported in April 2014 that a study in the UK had found that the 15 per cent fall in dietary salt intake over the past decade in England was likely to have had a key role in the 40 per cent drop in deaths from heart disease and stroke over the same period.

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World Congress of Cardiology 2014 to put spotlight on salt and heart disease deaths