The Salt Manufacturers Association has lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority over the use of a cartoon slug to front a new £4 million salt restriction campaign.
The SMA says that the Food Standards Agency character “Sid the Slug” is based on the fact that salt kills slugs and the assertion that it will also kill humans. The reality, says the SMA, is that salt supports life and there no evidence to show that it has ever been responsible for death.
“Salt certainly kills slugs in your garden but if Sid were a human being it would actually be keeping him alive,” says SMA general secretary Peter Sherratt. “We all have the equivalent of about cupful of salt (250 grammes) at work in our bodies at any time and it is absolutely essential to us.
“We realise that Sid is intended as a fun character but the message he carries is a serious one that is incorrect and potentially very damaging to the image of an essential product.”
The SMA has attacked the government-backed FSA campaign, for ignoring the need for more conclusive research and failing to make a proper assessment of the risks it could pose to some population groups. It believes some groups, such as the elderly and pregnant women, may be at risk from following blanket advice to reduce their salt intake.
Mr Sherratt added: “Sid and the campaign that surrounds him is costing the British taxpayer a massive £4 million, yet the research that is needed to produce conclusive evidence would probably cost little more than £100,000. When it comes to health, aren’t we are all entitled to expect advice based on proper science and not on questionable evidence?”
In support of its case, the SMA points to the Department of Health’s own National Diet and Nutrition Survey, published earlier this year, which concluded that there is no effect on the blood pressure of healthy people from eating salt. The survey found that the major correlation was between alcohol intake and body mass index and blood pressure.
The SMA believes resources being devoted to blanketing the nation with the salt reduction advice would be better directed to more closely targeting those who are hypertensive and treating them with the highly effective drugs now available, as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommended only last month.
- Each one of us has the equivalent of a cupful of salt (250g) in our bodies and it is working very hard to keep us alive.
- The sodium in salt is an electrolyte that helps maintain the fluid balance in your blood cells and transmits electrical impulses between your brain, your nerves, and your muscles.
- Symptoms of insufficient salt range from muscular cramps to heat exhaustion. Severe deprivation of salt puts lives at risk.
- As the oldest preservative known to man, salt also plays a vital role in protecting us from food poisoning. If we reduce the use of salt, we have to be extremely careful that we aren’t opening the door to increased risk of disease.
- If you go into hospital and need say a saline drip or kidney dialysis, salt is an absolutely essential ingredient in keeping you alive.
- A host of research, including the Food Standards Agency’s National Diet and Nutrition Survey, has shown that there is no significant effect on the blood pressure of healthy people from eating salt.
- Your kidneys very precisely filter your salt intake - any that is not essential to your body is excreted.
- Under medical supervision, a low-salt diet may be beneficial for those already suffering raised blood pressure.
- Scientists internationally do not agree with the need for blanket advice on salt intake for the population as a whole.
- It would be far better, in our view, to devote resources to identifying those suffering hypertension and treating them with the highly effective drugs now available.
There is a great deal of expert opinion from around the world that contradicts the Food Standards Agency’s stance on salt