Britons consume 50% too much salt

Tests on 1,287 adults showed their average salt intake was 9g per day. Although this is adrop from 9.5g when the last tests were done in 2001, the consumption is far higher than the national target of 6g per day, the Food Standards Agency said.

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The results also revealed men are consuming far more salt than women. While women consumed 7.6g on average, men consumed a whopping 10.2g. As much as 75 per cent of salt eaten in Britain is found in processed food.

FSA chair Dame Deirdre Hutton said: "There is still some way to go before we reach the 6g target and we all now need to build on this to ensure that the downward trend continues."

The FSA's campaign follows a scientific report published in 2003 which said reducing Briton's salt intake would lower average blood pressure, which in turn would help cut heart disease.

High blood pressure is at least partly to blame for 170,000 deaths in England each year, the report found.

An additional survey of 1,990 British adults carried out last month found that 40 per cent were trying to cut their salt consumption. But 90 per cent of those were simply not adding salt to their food, with only 12 per cent eating less processed food to reduce their salt intake.

Campaign group Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) welcomed the average drop in salt consumption. "A half gram reduction in salt intake is predicted to prevent approximately 7,000 stroke and heart attack events per year in the UK alone, 3,500 of which are fatal," they said.

But the Salt Manufacturers' Association opposed the FSA's campaign, saying a blanket approach to cutting salt consumption could harm some consumers.