A reflection on nutrition policies in the UK
July 2021 marked the first anniversary of the United Kingdom’s Tackling Obesity Strategy (government plan) and England’s National Food Strategy (independent report to the government) reinforcing the importance of innovative food policies for creating healthier food environments. Ioana Vlad from the World Cancer Research Fund International discussed the potential positive impact of two proposed strategies: […]
The World Health Organization publishes new guidelines on hypertension
On the 25th of August, WHO published new hypertension guidelines. Titled “WHO Guideline for the pharmacological treatment of hypertension in adults”, the guidelines provide new recommendations to help countries improve management of hypertension, including when to start medications, what types of medications to use (and in what combinations), target blood pressure levels and how often […]
Our updated WHOCC Salt Reduction website!
We are pleased to let you all know that we have updated our WHOCC on Population Salt Reduction website. This website aims to be a hub for information on salt reduction, useful to researchers, policy makers, food industry and anyone interested in how they can reduce their salt intake. It also houses salt reduction resources, […]
Barriers, Enablers, and Perceptions on Dietary Salt Reduction in the Out-of-Home Sectors: A Scoping Review
Published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in July 2021, Michael et al reviewed the perceptions and challenges that influence dietary salt reduction in out-of-home sectors. Drawing from different databases for published research articles up until December 2020, the review found that there were several perceived barriers that impeded salt reduction […]
Implementing Effective Salt Reduction Programs and Policies in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
In August, the Public Health Nutrition published a studied titled “Implementing effective salt reduction programs and policies in low-and-middle-income countries: learning from retrospective policy analysis in Argentina, Mongolia, South Africa and Vietnam”. This study by Webster et al, follows the Walt and Gilson’s ‘Health Policy Triangle’ to analyse the context, content, process and actors of the implementation of salt policy. The study found that each […]
Strengthening Knowledge to Practice on Effective Salt Reduction Interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Published in Current Nutrition Reports, on the 5th of July, Santos et al conducted a review on the implementation and evaluation of salt reduction interventions in Low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). The review included articles related to salt reduction interventions between 2013 and 2020. Overall, the review included 32 studies, from 137 LMICs, finding that most interventions focused on education, food reformulation and […]
Salt reduction “controversy”
There is a well-established causal relationship between salt intake and increasing blood pressure. Public health messaging is therefore focused on reducing salt intake to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, over recent years several cohort studies have claimed that both high and low salt intake are associated with cardiovascular disease risk (i.e. a “J-shaped” relationship). In two complementary editorials, prominent salt reduction researchers and epidemiologists address […]
New research proves salt substitution lowers the risk of stroke and heart attack
On the 29th of August a study entitled “Effect of Salt Substitution on Cardiovascular Events and Death” was published by The New England Journal of Medicine. The study, by Neal et al from the George Institute for Global Health, found that use of reduced sodium and increased potassium salt substitutes significantly reduces rates of stroke, heart attack and death. The study was […]