Salt plays an important role in our diet, because it's vital to control the amount of water in our body, maintain normal pH of blood, transmit nerve signals and help muscular contractions to allow for movement.
However, it is possible to consume too much salt. The Food Standards Agency advises to consume no more than 6g of salt per day but, at present, the average person in the UK consumes about 9g per day. That's over 50% more than the recommended daily amount.
Excess salt intake can lead to heart disease, stroke and most commonly, high blood pressure. Around 32% of men and 30% of women in the UK currently suffer from high blood pressure (hypertension), which puts strain on the heart, prevents adequate blood supply and can lead to heart attacks.
Salt to excess
Salt is not just the pinch you might sprinkle on your meal, but it is found in most foods and sometimes in worryingly significant amounts. Around 75% of the salt we eat is already in the food we purchase, the most part found in processed foods, such as ready meals, canned produce, cereals, breads, cakes, biscuits, sauces, processed meats, such as sausages, salami and bacon.
Despite such high salt contents, the foods don’t always taste ‘salty’. This is sometimes due to equally high sugar contents, as in breakfast cereals, but also because our taste buds become de-sensitised to high levels of salt.
Some high-salt foods include:
- Ready meals
- Canned foods
- Some breads and bread products (bagels, crumpets, ciabattas)
- Anchovies
- Bacon
- Cheese
- Crisps
- Ham
- Pre-prepared sandwiches
- Some pasta sauces
- Salami
- Salted fish
- Salted nuts
- Sausages
- Soups
- Soy sauce
- Stock cubes
- Tomato ketchup
How much salt am I eating?
Following a national campaign to reduce salt consumption, many UK food manufacturers now clearly label the salt content on the front of pack with the traffic light system, as also used for fats, saturated fats and sugar. When looking at labels for salt content, the following applies:
Red = High = more than 1.5g/100g = enjoy sparingly
Amber = Medium = 0.3g-1.5g/100g = enjoy some of the time
Green = Low = less than 0.3g/100g = enjoy freely
Knowing the quantity of salt per 100 grams allows you to track your intake. For example, if you have a 200g sandwich that contains 1.6g of salt per 100g, the whole sandwich contains 3.2g of salt – already half of your daily allowance!
If only the sodium content is listed on the nutritional panel you can work out the salt content with the following calculation:
sodium (milligrams) x 2.5 = salt (milligrams)
For example, if the sodium content is 200mg, it would be: 200 x 2.5 = 500mg of salt. There are 1000mg in 1g, so the salt content would be 0.5g.
Reducing salt intake
It is possible to significantly reduce your salt intake and not exceed 6g per day. Some tips to reducing your salt consumption include:
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Opt for reduced-salt varieties. Many food manufacturers and even supermarket-own brands now offer a low-salt option on most of their products, such as soups, tomato ketchup and baked beans.
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Go for ‘no added salt’. Choose tinned vegetables and pulses without added salt. If there isn’t one available without salt, rinse the food under running tap water to remove the salt before cooking.
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Choose spring water. When buying canned fish, opt for fish in spring water, rather than salty brine.
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Read the label. If a product isn’t labelled as low salt, check and compare the labels of various brands and choose the one with the least salt.
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Switch to cereals with no added salt, such as shredded wholegrain wheat cereals or some muesli brands. If there isn’t one available, check the labels and go for the healthiest option.
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Don’t add too much ketchup, mayonnaise, soy sauce, mustard or pickles to your meals.
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Opt for reduced salt bacon, and try adding a slice of fresh tomato in your bacon butty, instead of ketchup.
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Make a homemade stock or gravy from the juices of your roast dinner, rather than using processed granules and cubes.
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Try to eat fresh produce whenever possible, such as fresh fruit and veg, homemade soups and casseroles. Avoid ready meals and instead try cooking some of the simple recipes from our online collection.
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Add taste in alternative ways. Rely on other flavoursome ingredients when cooking, such as garlic, onion, chilli, ginger, lime zest, lemon juice and black pepper.
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Try not to add extra salt
when cooking or once your meal is plated up. At first you might think the food hasn’t got much flavour, but that’s because our taste buds get used to high levels of salt. After about eight weeks your taste buds will become more sensitive again and you will begin to enjoy your food with less salt. And sea salt is just as unhealthy as table salt; it is the sodium in the salt that raises your blood pressure, so it doesn’t matter where it comes from.