“Dead customers don’t shop.” That was the bald business case Graham MacGregor deployed to persuade food manufacturers to reduce the salt and sugar content of their products. Combining a rigorous regard for evidence with a gift for persuasion and a refusal to take no for an answer, MacGregor, who has died aged 84, was a key figure in advocating for industry agreements that would cut heart attacks, strokes and obesity by getting us all to consume less salt and sugar.
In 1994, the government’s committee on medical aspects of food and nutrition policy (Coma) published a report on nutritional aspects of cardiovascular disease. It included evidence that blood pressure rose with salt intake, and that the effect increased with age. High blood pressure is a leading cause of death from heart attacks and strokes. The Coma report recommended a gradual reduction in salt intake from 9g to 6g per day.
