Thread by @WHO

Most people consume 2x the WHO-recommended 5g of daily #salt intake, putting themselves at greater risk of the heart diseases & strokes that kill an estimated 3 million people each year.

🆕 WHO benchmarks help countries reduce salt intake & save lives👉 bit.ly/3ems7qA

The WHO Global Sodium Benchmarks aim to guide for countries and industry to reduce the sodium content in processed foods.

Consumption of processed food is a rapidly increasing source of sodium bit.ly/3ems7qA

The Global Sodium Benchmarks target several categories of high-sodium 🧂 food products:

🥯 Processed and packaged bread
🥫 Savory snacks
🥩 Meat products
🧀 Cheese products.

Reducing daily sodium intake can lower the risk of future high blood pressure and heart ♥️ disease

Confusingly, similar processed food products often contain different amounts of sodium in different countries. WHO’s harmonized global benchmarks will show countries how they can progressively lower their targets, based on their local food environments.

bit.ly/3ems7qA

The WHO Global Sodium Benchmarks will also encourage industry to lower the sodium content in processed foods accordingly and advance toward the WHO goal of 30% reduction in global salt/sodium intake by 2025

We need countries to establish policies to reduce salt intake and provide people with the information they need to make the right food choices.

We also need the food and beverage industry to cut sodium levels in processed foods
bit.ly/3ems7qA

#LessSalt #BeatNCDs

In the #UnitedKingdom🇬🇧, voluntary targets for food manufacturers to reformulate products decreased adult #salt intake by approximately 15% between 2003 and 2011, showing that target-setting across multiple food categories can achieve meaningful reductions in sodium consumption.