Salt intake down but still exceeds limit

Britons are consuming less salt each day but adults still exceed the maximum recommended by experts, new figures show.

The average person aged 19-64 now consumes 8.1g of salt a day, significantly higher than the recommended maximum of 6g, according to the Department of Health’s annual report on dietary sodium intake.

Men tend to eat more salt than women, at 9.3g versus 6.8g a day, according to the assessment of the sodium content of urine collected from 547 adults.

Overall, 80 per cent of men and 58 per cent of women still exceed the daily limit. But the amounts have decreased since the introduction of the UK’s salt reduction policy ten years ago when the average adult was eating 9.5g a day.

Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) said UK now has the lowest salt intake of any developed country but blamed the “slow progress” on cutting salt intake on inaction from eateries and the Department of Health.