Pass the Salt

Or should I say.....Pass.... on the salt.

Most of us in the west eat too much salt.

Adding salt at the dinner table is a very small part of the problem: 75% of the salt we eat is already in food when we buy it.

Too much salt can cause raised blood pressure, which one-third of people in the UK already have. Did you know that high Blood pressure is in fact a heart disease of sorts?

It’s called the silent killer as it often has no symptoms, but if you have high blood pressure you are three times more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke, and twice as likely to die from these diseases. If it's left untreated, high blood pressure can also lead to kidney failure and eye damage.

For adults the recommended amount of salt per day is six grams which is about a full teaspoon. One easy way to eat less salt is to stop adding extra salt to your food during cooking and at the dinner table. If you regularly add salt to food, try cutting a few grains at a time and you’ll soon re-discover the real taste of food.

Look at labels

Cutting back on added salt is only a small part of the solution. To really cut down, you need to become aware of the salt that is already in the food you buy.

Fortunately, food labels now make this a lot easier. Nutritional information labels are usually on the back of the food packaging. Look at the figure for salt per 100g.

•    High is more than 1.5g salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium).
  
  
•    Low is 0.3g salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium).

If the amount of salt per 100g is in between these figures, that is a medium level of salt and as a rule you should aim for foods that have a low or medium salt content.

On the front of some food packets now you’ll find the traffic light labelling system. This will tell you at glance if a food is high in fat, salt and sugar. Red means high so leave red salt foods for the occasional treat, and aim to eat mainly foods that are amber or green.

Salt and sodium

Salt is also called sodium choloride, and it’s actually the sodium in salt that’s bad for your health. Sometimes, food labels may list salt as sodium. But there is a simple way to work out how much salt you are eating from the sodium figure:

•    Salt = sodium x 2.5.

Babies, children and salt

Babies and children under 11 should have very much less salt than adults.

Babies under a year old need less than 1g of salt a day, as their kidney can’t cope with more. If a baby is breastfed it will get the right amount of salt from breast milk. Formula milk contains a similar amount.

Never add salt to your baby’s milk or food, and don’t give food that isn’t specifically for babies as it’s often too high in salt.

For some salt-free weaning recipes see the Healthy Start website in Useful links.

This guide shows you how much salt children under 11 should eat:

    * 1 to 3 years: 2g salt a day (0.8g sodium).
    * 4 to 6 years: 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium).
    * 7 to 10 years: 5g salt a day (2g sodium).
    * 11 and over: 6g salt a day (2.4g sodium).

Making sure your child doesn’t eat too much salt means you’re also helping to ensure he or she doesn’t develop a taste for salty food, which makes them less likely to eat too much salt as an adult.