Irish adults are consuming more than twice the daily recommended amount of salt, according to a report published by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) yesterday.
The recommended dietary allowance is four grams a day for adults, but the current average intake is 10 grams.
Too much salt is a contributory factor in cardiovascular disease and stroke. Some 41 per cent of deaths are from cardiovascular disease, and more than half of the population over 50 years of age has hypertension.
The Food Safety Authority has called for a "radical reduction" in salt intake and has urged the Government, the food industry and consumers to take immediate action.
The report was welcomed by the Irish Heart Foundation, which called for an immediate implementation of the recommendations. It estimated that cutting salt consumption by six grams would reduce the incidence of stroke by 24 per cent, preventing 600 deaths, and reducing the incidence of coronary heart disease by 18 per cent.
Prof Albert Flynn, chairman of the FSAI's scientific committee, said it was clear that people were consuming far too much salt.
Up to 20 per cent of salt intake came from people adding salt during cooking or at the table. Some 70 per cent came from manufactured foods, with the remainder occurring naturally.
Meat - mainly processed - and fish and bread account for more than half of all sodium intake from foods.
Dr John O'Brien, the FSAI chief executive, said it was crucial that the industry get involved in campaigns to reduce salt content, because processed foods accounted for the vast majority of salt intake.
He said it was hoped that the food industry would succeed in reducing salt content in food by one-third in five years' time.
"It is in the interests of everyone," he said, as less salt meant fewer lives lost from heart disease and related conditions.
"Salt is just one factor in these diseases, but it is a very easy one to fix," he said.
Dr O'Brien urged manufacturers to use the word "salt" on their labels rather than "sodium". The salt content appears lower when sodium measurements are used as the salt figure is 2½ times higher than the sodium figure.
He said Irish people traditionally had a predilection for salty foods, but they would have to re-educate their palates.
"And it should all start with children. We have to educate children to eat less salty food," he said.
