AMSTERDAM—Salt policy makers in the Netherlands are consuming more than double the average daily recommended salt intake of 6 grams a day at their workplace cafeterias, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal. The findings suggest policy makers consume 15.4 grams of salt a day, which translates to up to a 36% increase in premature death.
For the study, researchers at the University of Amsterdam focused on policy makers because they assumed they would have a high awareness of the risk of high salt intake. They selected 18 cafeterias at the Department of Health, the Health Council, the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, university and non-university hospitals in the Netherlands. On three random days the researchers collected a typical hot lunch from the staff cafeterias.
The average salt content of the meals was around 7 grams, which exceeded the total daily recommended salt intake of 6 grams. The researchers also surveyed employees about how often they ate the hot lunch at their staff cafeterias. The majority (63%) ate the hot meal at work and another hot meal for dinner at home. The researchers estimate that if 63% of the staff ate the high salt content canteen meal and a standard meal in the evening, they would be consuming around 15.4 grams of salt daily—9.4 grams higher than the recommended 6 grams.
“If people eat the meals served at the institutions we studied, they run an estimated increase in cardiovascular risk of 32% to 36% more deaths from stroke and 23% to 27% more deaths from coronary heart disease compared with people who adhere to the guidelines," they said. “Our data indicate that even salt policy makers cannot adhere to a low-salt diet if they consume the hot lunch at work. These data underline the urgency to remove the exemption of nutrition labeling for food products intended solely for use in restaurants and foodservice operations."
