Watchdog warns of diet death toll

By Hywel Griffith BBC Wales health correspondent

Salty foods are contributing to disease

Thousands of people in Wales are dying every year because of poor diet, according to the chair of the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

In a public health lecture, Dame Deirdre Hutton said around a third of the 22,000 who died early each year through heart, circulatory diseases and cancer did so because of poor diet.

Although dietery awareness was growing, people were slow to improve, she said.

And she added that the food industry was taking positive steps to help.

"Just on seven out of 10 people in Wales were aware of the five-a-day fruit and vegetables message - compared with five out of ten five years ago," Dame Deirdre told the BBC Wales/Regeneration Institute lecture in Cardiff.

On average we need to reduce our salt intake by at least a third Dame Deirdre Hutton

"But on the other hand, of those seven out of 10 who knew about eating five-a-day - only three said they were actually doing so."

Several initiatives within the food industry were cited as positive steps in trying to make a difference, including putting better nutritional information on the front of food packaging.

The increased sales of products labelled as 'healthy' was also seen as enticement for companies to promote better diets, she said.

But concerns remained about the amount of salt people have in their diets, and its contribution to chronic diseases.

"Processed foods account for around 75% of our salt intake," she told the audience.

"Given that, on average we need to reduce our salt intake by at least a third - from 9.5g to no more than 6g a day. A lot of that reduction has to come out of processed foods."