SALT

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Too much salt is linked with high blood pressure and increased health risks such as heart disease and stroke.  However, most people in the UK exceed to daily recommended allowance.

Salt is found in many processed foods such as crisps, bread, biscuits, canned vegetables, canned soups, baked beans, sauces, takeaways and ready meals. We consume 65-85% of the salt we eat from processed foods.

The guidelines for salt intake are less than 6g a day for adults; the equivalent to one level teaspoon.  This is sometimes listed as sodium on the food nutrition label, where 2.5g of sodium is equivalent to 6g of salt.

Restricting the level of salt you consume is important. Check labels of food items for the sodium/salt levels.  Take care as many labels list the sodium per 100g rather salt per serving. 1 g of sodium is equivalent to 2.5g of salt. As a general rule, foods that exceed 0.5g sodium per 100g/portion are high in salt and those that have less than 0.1g sodium per 100g/portion are low in salt.

Some items contain high levels of salt such as:
Baked beans 225 g (3.0g),
Pot noodle (4.5g)
Pizza 225g (4.1g)
Sausages, 2 pork (2.4g)
Soup, canned 200ml  (2.2g).

Restrict high salt foods such as packet and canned soups, instant noodles, ketchup's and sauces, sausages and burgers and salty snacks.

Replace them with foods that contain little salt such as:
Apple, 1 (0.01g)
Banana, 1 (0.01g)
Cream crackers, 2 (0.2g)
Instant mash, 100g (0.1g)
Muesli cereal 35g (0.08g)
Oven chips 100g (0.1g)
Shredded wheat (0.1g)

Don’t add salt to ingredients when cooking. Avoid adding salt to your food at the table.  You can substitute some high slat foods with 'reduced salt' products.

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