Britain's Food Standards Agency (FSA) has a target to reduce average salt intakes across the population to 6g per day by 2010. It selected its targets, it says, on surveys from 2000-2001 claiming British men consume 11 g/salt/day and women, 8.1 gpd. The agency announced July 22nd the publication of a survey of Britons' urinary sodium -- the "gold standard" measure for salt intake, "which shows the UK's average daily salt consumption has fallen from 9.5g to 8.6g since 2000." FSA termed the results "an encouraging decline in salt levels," but conceded its pace would fail to achieve the 6 gpd target in 2010 so it unveiled a consultation to "make its voluntary 2010 salt reduction targets, for 85 categories of food, stricter, and set more challenging 2012 targets, for 80 categories of food."

The publication behind the news release tells a different story .

Entitled "An assessment of dietary sodium levels among adults (aged 19-64) in the UK general population in 2008, based on analysis of dietary sodium in 24 hour urine samples," the methodology explains the care taken to secure accurate samples and analysis. So, we can be pretty sure that the 2008 number is sound. The study actually didn't find 8.6 grams, but rather 8.728 grams; it is expressed as 148 mmol Na (a millimole of sodium being equal to 23 milligrams; this assumes, as they mistakenly do, that all the sodium comes from salt, which it doesn't -- no matter). So they misled on the achievement, but still, reduction from 9.5 grams salt (161 mmol Na) would be an impressive achievement. Indeed, FSA continues to boast that it "is encouraged that action to reduce the average amount of salt we are eating on a daily basis is clearly having a positive impact." This, of course is not the proper metric: salt reduction isn't an end it itself. The "positive impact" would be reduced incidence of heart attacks or better than projected cardiovascular mortality -- no matter, here.

The deception arises in the 9.5 gram (16 mmol) "starting point" which turns out to be a phone survey, not a carefully controlled collection of 24-hour urine samples with quality analysis (as was done in 2008).

Fortunately, we have another exceptionally well-done survey of a representative British population. And from a good deal more vantage point so we can see just how much improvement has been recorded. Its size is nearly comparable, 754 in the 2008 survey and 598 in the Intersalt Study published in the British Medical Journal, July 30, 1988. Intersalt sampled three British populations, carefully collected 24-hour urine samples and had them analyzed in a single laboratory. The results? One population had 149.9 mmol; one 150 mmol; and the third, 151.8 mmol. A far cry from the FSA's claimed 2000-01 starting point of 161 mmol. Instead of a 13 mmol reduction to 148 mmol, over the past 20 years Briton's have changed their salt intake virtually not at all (2 mmol, probably within the margin of error).

All evidence suggests that sodium/salt intakes are largely unchanged in most populations over the past century. The high-salt consuming Finns and Japanese claim signficant reductions, but it does lead one to wonder if the "starting points" are valid in those cases.

So, when FSA makes these bold pronouncements of their "progress" in reducing cardiovascular disease in the UK by cutting salt intake, take it with a grain of salt. Ask whether beating up food manufacturers about reducing salt in their foods is really working. Is a 1.3% reduction over twenty years (even if true) worth the effort? Even using the much-lower "real" starting point, the current pace would have Britons' achieving a 6 gpd target not in 2010, but a bit further down the road -- in 2205 if the current trend can be sustained. That is, another 197 years, not two, before reaching the target of 100 mmol (6 gpd of salt). They admit they're behind schedule, but that may just be classical British understatement, right?

Let's be honest in interpreting the data. FSA has made NO PROGRESS despite the enormous pain it has inflicted on British food manufacturers and diverting resources to supporting "Sid, the Slug" has postponed real progress in improving Britons' health. No wonder FSA prefers to make up number about salt intake than face the proper challenge of improving public health.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) conducts mini surveys amongst consumers on a quarterly basis in order to monitor changes in consumer attitudes towards food related issues. The latest survey was just published and there were some interesting surprises.

Despite a costly public relations campaign demonizing salt, including many television ads, which named and shamed manufacturers for the salt content in their foods, the latest mini survey revealed that consumer concerns over salt has dropped dramatically. In fact, consumer concens with salt are at their lowest level since December 2003 - years before the FSA began its aggressive anti-salt campaigns, including "Sid the Slug " and "Your Food is Full of It ."

Bravo to the British consumer. It is a fitting tribute to the quote, "You can fool some of the people…."