NICE calls for food industry to reduce salt and saturated fats

Trans fats, which have been shown to increase the risk of heart disease and are classified as toxic by the World Health Organisation, should be eliminated from the food we eat, say the NICE recommendations. In the UK, nearly three million women and three million men are living with the effects of cardiovascular disease - which includes heart disease and stroke. Over 40,000 people die from premature cardiovascular disease each year. This new guidance from NICE focuses mainly on food production and its influence on the nation's diet. The recommendations are aimed at making small changes across the whole population, because these will translate into very big improvements in health overall. The report sets out very clearly what the government and industry can do to make it easier for people to make healthy choices and improve the health of the whole nation. The recommendations include speeding up the reduction in salt intake in the population, aiming for a maximum intake of 6g per day per adult by 2015 and 3g daily by 2025, encouraging manufacturers to substantially reduce hidden saturated fat in all food products, and ensuring low salt products and low saturated fat foods are sold more cheaply than their higher content equivalents. Clear, colour-coded food labelling is also recommended as an effective way to help people understand what is in their food. This specific system is proven to help shoppers make a healthy informed choice about what they and their families eat. Other recommendations include extending restrictions on TV advertising for foods high in saturated fats, salt and sugar to 9pm to protect children, establishing the Food Standards Agency's front-of-pack traffic light labelling system as the national standard for food and drink products in England, and encouraging local planning authorities to restrict planning permission for take-aways and other food retail outlets in specific areas. Professor Klim McPherson, chair of the NICE guidance development group and professor of epidemiology at Oxford University, said: "Where food is concerned, we want the healthy choice to be the easy choice. Going even further, we want the healthy choice to be the less expensive, more attractive choice. Just one of the recommendations is reducing saturated fats and removing trans fats from the diet - this can save over 20,000 lives every year." Robin Ireland, guidance developer and chief executive of Heart of Mersey cardiovascular health charity, added: "People know that healthy living advice is to be more active, don't smoke and eat a balanced diet. But this time the healthy living advice is for local authorities, Government and the food industry - they have a vital chance to greatly help improve everyone's health. "The guidance recommends that local authorities should use planning applications and bye-laws to control fast food outlets - for example limiting the concentration of those based within walking distance of schools, and within local communities. All of these steps will help reduce heart disease and improve the health of the nation."