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How much salt can I have each day?
How can I reduce my salt intake? It’s the sodium component of salt, also known as sodium chloride, that’s linked to high blood pressure. Unfortunately, not all products label values for salt but instead give figures for sodium. This means for some products you’ll need to do the maths yourself to check out how much salt the food contains. As a general guideline, work out the amount of sodium in a portion and then multiply that figure by 2.5 to give you the salt content. Remember, you should try to have less than 6g of salt a day. Here are some tips for reducing salt… - Remove the salt pot from the dining table and kitchen – you’ll find you gradually get used to a less salty taste - If you do still sometimes use salt in cooking or a recipe suggests using it, always measure the amount you add using a teaspoon or your fingertips – never just pour from the tub - Eat fewer processed foods and instead use fresh ingredients to make meals – most fresh foods are naturally low in salt such as fresh pork, beef, lamb, fruit, veg, potatoes and milk - Flavour food with other ingredients such as garlic, onions, herbs, spices, ginger, lemon or lime juice, wine, cider and black pepper - Make your own low-salt ‘ready meals’ such as lasagne, bolognaise, chilli, stews, - Steam veg rather than boiling it – you’ll be less likely to add salt. And choose canned vegetables in water rather than those with added salt. - Make your own salt-free marinades and marinate meat before cooking to add flavour (for some recipe ideas click here) - Don’t rely on your taste buds to tell you whether a food contains a lot of salt. Sometimes foods don’t taste that salty, perhaps because they have a lot of sugar in them such as some biscuits. Instead, always check the label. As a guideline, the Food Standards Agency suggests that a product is high in salt if it contains more than 1.5g of salt (or 0.6g of sodium) in 100g. In contrast, a low-salt food contains less than 0.3g salt (or 0.1g sodium) in 100g.
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Too much salt has been linked to high blood pressure, which is a risk factor for coronary heart disease and stroke, so health experts recommend that we eat less. On average, most of us have around 9g salt a day, but it is recommended we should reduce our intake to no more than 6g of salt each day – approximately a teaspoonful. This might not seem a large amount. However, around 75 percent of the salt in our diet comes from processed foods or foods that use salt as a preservative such as bacon and ham. This can make it difficult to work out exactly how much salt we have each day. But it does highlight the importance of eating fewer high-salt foods such as pizza, takeaways, baked beans, soups, crisps, gravy, savoury snacks, sauces, pickles, ready meals, ham, bacon, salami and salted nuts. Furthermore, foods like bread, cheese and breakfast cereals can be loaded with salt, too, so it’s important to opt for those products or brands that contain the least.
meatballs, casseroles and burgers, in bulk. Then freeze individual portions so you can always have a lower-salt meal that’s ready in minutes for evenings when you don’t have time to cook