Working towards less slat

Did you know?

• 75% of salt is already in the food we eat

Do you?

• check the label and choose lower salt options

There are real health benefits to reducing our salt intake 

Cutting down on salt reduces blood pressure, whether or not your blood pressure is high to start with. When your blood pressure goes down, your risk of developing heart disease and stroke goes down too, whatever your age. If you have high blood pressure, cutting down on salt can help to lower your blood pressure in weeks.

 

Most people in the UK consume too much salt

The average intake in the UK is about 9g a day. The maximum recommended daily amount of salt for an adult is 6g, that’s about a teaspoonful.

For children the recommended maximum is even less

Recommended daily salt limits

Infants 0-6 months	Less than 1g
Infants 7 -12 months	1g
1-3 year olds	2g
4-6 year olds	3g
7-10 year olds	5g

 

75% of salt is already in the food we eat

Foods typically high in salt include: -

Baked beans, breakfast cereals, bread products e.g. crumpets, bagels, cooking sauces, crisps, pizzas, ready meals, soup, sandwiches and sausages, tomato ketchup, mayonnaise and other sauces, anchovies, bacon, cheese, gravy granules, ham, olives, pickles, prawns, salami, soy sauce and stock cubes - although there may be lower salt versions.

The Food Standards Agency is working with the food industry to gradually reduce the amount of salt in processed food. Kent Trading Standards also sample food to check for levels of salt to ensure labelling is correct and to encourage businesses to reduce salt.

 

How much salt is in food?

Nutrition information is not required by law for all products, although many manufacturers and supermarkets voluntarily include it on their packaging. By law, when manufacturers give nutritional information they must declare the amount of salt.

Salt is actually the chemical sodium chloride.

To convert the amount of sodium on the label to the amount of salt, you must multiply the sodium figure by 2.5
for example, the amount of sodium per 100g of the food on a food label is 0.4 g. The amount of salt is therefore
0.4g x 2.5 = 1g

High in salt = more than 1.5g salt per 100g (or more than 0.6g of sodium)

Low in salt  = 0.3g salt or less per 100g (0r 0.1g sodium)

An amount between these figures is a medium level of salt.

 

The traffic light system

Many food manufacturers and supermarkets are using the traffic light system. This scheme has been developed by the Food Standards Agency in consultation with the food industry and consumers, using colours on the front of pack to show the levels of calories, fat, saturated, fat, sugar and salt.

Red = High - Eat occasionally, perhaps as a treat or in small quantities
Amber = Medium - Eat in moderation, okay most of the time
Green = Low - The healthiest option

The idea is to choose the lowest salt option. For example, select a product with a green light for salt over one with an amber light. Many of the foods with traffic light colours will have a mixture of red, amber and greens for the different nutrients, fats, sugar and salt. When you're choosing between similar products, try to go for more greens and ambers, and fewer reds, if you want to make the healthier choice.

Traffic lights are voluntary. Companies using the scheme (although formatting of the positioning of the lights does vary between them) include Sainsburys (a wheel format), Boots, Bernard Matthews, Budgen, Londis, Waitrose, the Co-op, McCain and New Covent Garden. As time goes on others are also adopting the scheme.

Some food businesses are using the Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) system. In this case the colours do not have any meaning like the red, amber and green of the traffic lights. Instead you can read the amount of salt, fat, sugar etc in a stated portion. These are also positioned on the front of pack.

 

Tips for reducing salt

The key ones are

• to check the label and choose the lower salt option
• don’t add salt at the table

Other tips include

• Go for tinned vegetables and pulses without added salt.
• Snack on fruit, plain popcorn or unsalted nuts and seeds, instead of crisps or crackers.
• Go easy with ketchup, soy sauce, mustard, pickles and mayonnaise – these can all be high in salt.
• Make your own stock and gravy, instead of using cubes or granules, or look out for reduced-salt varieties.

Instead of using salt:

• Add fresh herbs to pasta dishes, vegetables and meat
• Use black pepper as seasoning on pasta, scrambled egg etc
• Marinate meat and fish in advance to give them more flavour.
• Use garlic, ginger, chilli and lime in stir fries.
• Add red wine to stews and casseroles, and white wine to risottos and sauces for chicken.
• Roast vegetables such as red peppers, courgettes, fennel, parsnips and squash to bring out their flavour.
• Squeeze lemon juice onto fish or seafood.
• Try using different types of onion - brown, red, white, spring onions, shallots.
• Make sauces using ripe flavoursome tomatoes and garlic.

Salt Myths

I don't add salt to my food so I must be okay - FALSE
75% of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy,

Food has no flavour without salt - FALSE
If you're used to foods that are high in salt, or add lots of salt to your food, you may miss it when you first cut down. Our taste buds get used to high levels of salt, but within a few weeks they will get used to less salt and then you're more likely to enjoy food with less salt, or without any salt at all. If a food contains lots of salt this can hide more subtle flavours, so you might prefer some foods with less salt when your taste buds have had time to adjust.

Foods are high in salt taste salty - FALSE
Some foods that are high in salt don't taste very salty. Sometimes this is because they have lots of sugar in them too. Also, our taste buds get used to high levels of salt, so you might not notice the saltiness of some foods.

When it's hot you need more salt because you sweat so much - FALSE
We only lose a small amount of salt through sweat, even in extremely hot places. So there's no need to eat more salt in hot climates.

Sea salt and rock salt is better for you – FALSE
They are still the same chemical, sodium chloride.