Cutting back on salty foods such as bread and breakfast cereals may reduce people's risk of developing stomach cancer
According to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF)‚ it wants people to eat less salt and for the content of food to be labelled more clearly.
Too much salt is bad for blood pressure and can lead to heart disease and stroke‚ but it can also cause cancer.
The recommended daily limit is 6g‚ about a level teaspoonful‚ but the World Cancer Research Fund said people were eating 8.6g a day.
Kate Mendoza‚ head of health information at WCRF‚ said: "Stomach cancer is difficult to treat successfully because most
cases are not caught until the disease is well-established. "This places even greater emphasis on making lifestyle choices to prevent the disease occurring in the first place - such as cutting down on salt intake and eating more fruit and vegetables."
Eating too much salt is not all about sprinkling it over fish and chips or Sunday lunch‚ the vast majority is already inside food.
It is why the WCRF has called for a "traffic-light" system for food labelling - red for high‚ amber for medium and green for low.
"Improved labelling - such as traffic light labelling - could be a useful step to help consumers cut down."
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "We already know too much salt can lead to conditions such as heart disease and stroke. That is why we are taking action through the 'Responsibility Deal' to help reduce the salt in people's diets. And we are looking at clearer... labelling on foods as part of our consultation on
front-of-pack labelling.
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