Salt warning labels on menus key to fight heart disease: study

Salt warning labels on menus in restaurants may help diners rethink high-salt meals and make healthier choices, according to a study.

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It may also be a key strategy to fight cardiovascular diseases as well as kidney damage caused by a high-salt diet.

In first-of-its-kind research, a team from the University of Liverpool in the UK compared people ordering at a restaurant after seeing salt warnings with those who received a menu without warnings.

The findings, published in the journal The Lancet Public Health, showed that warning labels are perceived by consumers as effective in discouraging the selection of high-salt items. Warning labels also prompted greater awareness of salt content when ordering and significantly reduced the amount of salt actually ordered.