Dutch salt policy makers eat too much salt, finds study

The observational study, published in the British Medical Journal, found policy makers who ate in their work canteen were consuming around 15.4 grams of salt a day –with many consuming more than the recommended daily intake (RDI) of 6 grams in one hot meal.

The authors – led by Dr Lizzy Brewster at the University of Amsterdam – warned that this amount of salt translates to up to a 36% increase in premature death.

"Our data indicate that even salt policy makers cannot adhere to a low salt diet if they consume the hot lunch at work,”​ said the authors.

The research team said that they focused on policy makers because they assumed they would have a high awareness of the risk of high salt intake.

Brewster and her colleagues surveyed employees about how often they ate hot lunch at their canteens, finding that 63% ate both a hot meal at work and another hot meal for dinner at home.

They estimated that these 63% would be consuming around 15.4 grams of salt daily - 9.4 grams higher than the RDI.