HEALTH
Cu t s a l t a n d s t o p h e a r t a t t a ck s Cutting Australia’s salt intake could prevent an estimated 5,800 heart attacks, the National Heart Foundation of Australia has said. The Heart Foundation said research suggested that if intake of salt from processed foods was reduced by 15 per cent over 10 years, it would avert 5,800 heart attacks and 4,900 strokes each year. Eating too much salt can cause high blood pressure and increased the risk of heart attack and stroke with one in three Australians aged 30 to 65 with high blood pressure. On average, Australian eat around nine grams of salt a day (around one a half teaspoons), far in excess of the Heart Foundation’s recommended maximum of six grams (one teaspoon) for healthy Australians and four grams (two-thirds of a teaspoon) for people with existing high blood pressure or heart disease. About three quarters of the salt we eat comes from everyday “hidden” supermarket foods, rather than salt added at the table, which is why the Heart Foundation is running a campaign, ‘Halt Hidden Salt’, to get hidden salt out of everyday foods before they hit the supermarket shelves. The World Health Organisation has a target of reducing salt consumption by 30 per cent by 2025.
W h o l e di e t a p p r o a ch A study published in The American Journal of Medicine has shown that a whole diet approach, which focuses on increased intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and fish, has more evidence for reducing cardiovascular risk that strategies that focus exclusively on reduced dietary fat. The new study, undertaken by researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and Northwestern University in Chicago, found that while strictly low fat diets had the ability to lower cholesterol, they were not as conclusive in reducing cardiac deaths.
B u t t e r m a ke s a c o m e b a ck in Aus t r a lia Australian grocery buyers are purchasing more butter than they were five years ago, according to findings from market research organisation Roy Morgan Research. In the 12 months to September 2013, 47 per cent of grocery buyers bought butter in an average four-week period, up from 44 per cent in the year to September 2009. Although butter was not as popular as margarine, its growing sales appeared to have impacted those of margarine, which had declined since 2009, with 54 per cent of grocery buyers purchasing it an average four-week period in 2013 (down from 59 per cent). “The shift towards quality food and ingredients — not to mention the discovery that it’s not as bad for our health as previously believed — have no doubt contributed to butter’s return to favour in recent years,” said Geoffrey Smith, General Manager Consumer Products, Roy Morgan Research.
B ing e dr ink ing Market research organisation Roy Morgan Research has reported that in an average week, 583,000 Australians aged 18 or older (or 3.3 per cent of the adult population) could be classified as binge drinkers . According to Roy Morgan Research, Australian men were roughly six times more likely to be binge drinkers than women, with 5.7 per cent (or 501,000) of men reporting that they drank 35 or more alcoholic drinks in an average seven days, compared to 0.9 per cent or 82,000 women. The NHMRC advises Australians to drink ‘no more than two standard drinks on any day’ if they want to reduce the risk of alcohol-related harm over their lifetime.
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