Why salt warnings on menus are helping people make healthier food choices
The small menu change that could make people healthier
- A study by Liverpool University, published in The Lancet Public Health, found that salt warning labels on restaurant menus effectively encourage healthier food choices among consumers.
- The research, described as the "strongest evidence to date," indicated that these labels discourage the selection of high-salt options.
- In an online trial, labels reduced salt ordered by 0.26g per meal, while a real-world trial in a Liverpool restaurant saw a reduction of 0.54g per meal.
- The warning labels alert diners to dishes exceeding 50 per cent of the recommended UK daily salt limit of 6g and were effective across all age, sex, and education levels.
- Experts, including the study's lead author, Dr Rebecca Evans and Sonia Pombo from Action on Salt, highlighted the potential of such labelling policies to significantly improve public health and called for salt reduction to be central to UK food policy.