This year, the Heart Foundation is using Salt Awareness Week to encourage the people of New Zealand to cut down their daily salt intake by half a teaspoon each day. Delvina Gorton, the National Nutrition Advisor at the Heart Foundation said that even though half a teaspoon may not seem like all that much, that small amount actually has a huge negative impact on our overall health.

She also said that it’s difficult for most people to adequately gauge exactly how much salt their taking in since processes foods like cereals, breads and meats contain a lot of it. One of the reasons behind the push to decrease salt intake is that eating too much salt, which is a common problem in New Zealand, causes problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, and even stroke.

In fact, 40% of all deaths in New Zealand each year are from heart disease, and is the largest cause of death for both men and women.

On the bright side, Blenheim’s Mayfield School earned their Heart Start certificate from the New Zealand Heart Foundation after the Heart Start programme had been running at the school since the beginning of last year. To get the certificate, students had to complete a number of different heart health related activities. “We are trying to teach children good habits early on”, said Mark Dunn of the Heart Foundation. “We want them not only eating well but being active, so they don’t have heart health issues [later]”.