Get ready for Salt Awareness Week 2020
Salt Awareness Week (9-15th March 2020) is fast approaching, and now more than ever we hope to have your continued support with the campaign
Salt Awareness Week is the annual campaign led by campaign group Action on Salt. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of how salt is harmful to health – it raises blood pressure, which can lead to serious illnesses such as heart disease and stroke – and to put pressure on the food industry to lower the amount of salt they add to food.
The theme this year is Hide and Seek. It addresses the worrying levels of salt still hidden in many foods by the food industry, while the public are left to ‘seek’ out lower salt options.
Where is salt hidden?
Whether it’s in your cereal at breakfast, your snack for elevenses, your sandwich at lunch or your takeaway in the evening, salt is added to most foods. It isn’t always obvious, so even if you don’t add salt to your food yourself, or a product doesn’t taste salty, that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
Why support Salt Awareness Week?
Salt Awareness Week will inform the public on the negative impact of eating too much salt, and the steps everyone can take to reduce salt in their diet.
Action on Salt will also call for action from the food industry and the Government. The new Government needs to take the nation’s health seriously. This means acting on the measures proposed in the Health Secretary’s Prevention Green Paper, including new targets for salt reduction and a strict monitoring and evaluation programme for both retail and out of home industries.
A gradual reduction in salt intake across the whole population, as recommended by the World Health Organisation, has been acknowledged worldwide as an achievable, affordable, effective and important strategy to prevent cardiovascular diseases and premature death.
Get involved
You can help support Salt Awareness Week.
- Order your poster by Monday 17th Februaryto raise awareness of salt and health.
- You can order other resources tooand hold an awareness-raising event.
There are other ways you can take part too
- Contact your MP to ask them for help in making sure there are more options with less salt on the supermarket shelves.
- Ask your favourite restaurants and takeaways to add less salt to your meal
- Download social media images and join the conversation on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Use the hashtag #saltawarenessweek