Australians could live longer and healthier lives, plus billions of dollars in health care could be saved, by bringing in mandatory salt limits.

A new report from the Grattan Institute has found the average Australian eats more than double the recommended maximum intake of salt.

Additionally, the report titled Sneaky salt: How Australia can shake its salt habit also outlined how Australians are eating too much unhealthy food and too little healthy food.

“We are what we eat, and it’s making us sicker,” Grattan Institute health program director Peter Breadon said.

“If we don’t improve our diets, we won’t improve our health.”

He said Grattan’s report can show that Australians can improve their diets quickly and cheaply, without compromising the taste of food.

Tweet from @GrattanInst

Benefits of cutting back salt

Excess salt can raise blood pressure and cause cancer.

“It condemns thousands of Australians to living with hypertension, heart disease, and the consequences of stroke,” Breadon and Lachlan Fox wrote in their report.

“Each year, more than 2500 Australians die from illnesses caused by high salt intake.”

Which is why Australians need to get serious about their salt intake.

Simply by eating less salt, Australians could collectively live an extra 36,000 healthy years in the next two decades, based on modelling from the University of Melbourne.

Additionally, 300 lives could be saved every year and health spending could be reduced.

Right now diseases caused or made worse by unhealthy foods cost $10 billion in health care ever year.

“Governments and the community would save money too,” the report said.

“Governments would save $35 million a year in healthcare spending, and higher incomes would far outweigh tiny food price changes.”

However, the report noted it isn’t right to blame individuals for poor food choices.

Many external factors push people towards certain food products and away from others.

Three-quarters of the nation’s salt intake comes from food manufacturing, prompting the think tank to call on the government to introduce limits.

Tweet from @GrattanInst

Limits needed

In 2009, voluntary limits on the amount of salt in bread and sausages were introduced.

However, Grattan notes they were “badly designed, poorly implemented, and have failed” and have not impacted how much salt Australians eat.

Grattan wants federal and state governments to double the number of food types that are covered by salt limits.

Additionally, they are also calling for some limits to be mandatory, because there has been “no progress in reducing salt intake” under the voluntary scheme.

Food sold at bakeries and fast food restaurants should also be put under the microscope. Salt content should be measured at such places to pave the way for limits there.

Australia should also investigate the feasibility of requiring the enrichment with potassium.

“Starting with bread and table salt, because potassium enrichment can make salt much healthier without changing its taste,” the Grattan report said, adding that government schools should be required to use potassium-enriched salt instead of regular salt.

In addition to policy changes and making salt healthier, the report also states it is important to keep progress on track by monitoring salt in foods, measuring the population’s intake and reviewing the nutrition information labels.

“With better salt limits Australia can catch up to leading countries, and by making salt healthier we could lead the world,” Breadon and Fox wrote.

“This will add thousands of healthy years of life, increase incomes, and take pressure off government budgets – a triple win.”