SaltSwitch New Zealand is an app used for SALTS (Salt ALTernatives Study), a study run by the National Institute for Health Innovation at The University of Auckland. SALTS will be looking to find out what effect a 12 week dietary salt reduction programme has on people who have high blood pressure. The dietary salt reduction programme includes the SaltSwitch New Zealand app and a dietary alternative salt. The SaltSwitch New Zealand app is part of the SALTS study because researchers want to know if it can help people with high blood pressure to identify lower salt food products in the supermarket. The app provides traffic light food labels about the healthiness of food products. It enables you to scan the barcodes of packaged food products and be presented with information on the level of salt in those food items, as well as information about similar products which are lower in salt. If you are over 18 years old, have been told you have high blood pressure and own a smartphone or tablet, you may be eligible to take part. Participants will be randomly allocated (like a coin toss) to receive the dietary salt reduction programme (or not), but if you do not receive it as part of the study we will provide you with access to the SaltSwitch New Zealand app once you have finished the study.
SaltSwitch New Zealand was developed by The George Institute for Global Health Australia in conjunction with NIHI (The National Institute for Health Innovation) at The University of Auckland.