Too much salt in our diets acts as a symptomless silent killer

Justin Madders, MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, has learned that a high intake of salt encourages high blood pressure which is linked to around half of heart attacks and strokes.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is now calling for urgent Government action to tackle a ticking timebomb that puts thousands of UK lives at risk.

The charity says it applauds efforts to find and treat more people with high blood pressure but adds the Government could do more to stop people getting it in the first place. And the best way to do achieve this aim is tackling too much salt in our diets.

Up to 85 per cent of the salt we eat is already in our food when we buy it. A 2022 BHF report states reducing the UK’s average daily salt intake to within safe limits could result in 135,000 fewer new cases of coronary heart disease in the UK by 2035, and 1.4 million fewer people living with high blood pressure in 2035.

MPs including Mr Madders, formerly Shadow spokesperson for health and social care, met with the BHF at the Labour Party conference to discuss how the Government can save more lives from heart attacks and strokes by tackling the amount of salt in our food, ultimately saving the UK economy billions.

“Improving the nation’s heart health can help prevent people from needing treatment for chronic conditions that would see them join ever-growing NHS waiting lists,” Mr Madders said. “So I pledged to work with the BHF to explore how we can prevent more lives lost to heart attacks and strokes by addressing the country’s daily salt intake.”

BHF chief executive Dr Charmaine Griffiths said: “There are around 15 million people in the UK living with high blood pressure who are at a higher risk of a life-threatening heart attack or stroke.

“We simply must act now if we’re to overcome this deadly problem and this must include addressing one of the main contributors to high blood pressure – the amount of salt in our everyday foods.

“Tackling this silent killer would be a winning move to save countless lives and ease pressure on our desperately overstretched NHS.”

Pictured: Samuel Lamont, British Heart Foundation public affairs manager, with Ellesmere Port and Neston MP Justin Madders.