Reducing population salt consumption in Victoria

2014 Round 2 Partnership Engagement Grant

Years funded: 2015-2020

A 3-year Strategic Partnership, led by VicHealth, is going to implement a multi-faceted ‘Salt Action Challenge’ with the goal of reducing the average salt consumption of Victorians by 1g by June 2018. The research proposed here will test whether this objective was met, provide in depth insight into the program components that were most effective, and project the impact of the salt reduction achieved on cardiovascular health outcomes for Victoria.

The research will use a series of surveys done in the general community, businesses, local government and institutions like schools and workplaces. By doing the surveys before, during and after the 'Salt Action Challenge' has commenced, and by including large numbers of individuals and sites, it will be possible to make estimates of the impact of the intervention that are both precise and reliable. Further, because we will include gold standard assessment of salt levels in urine samples the study findings will be robust. The inclusion of a cost-effectiveness analysis in the last 12 months will ensure that the results have maximal translational impact.