Eating too much salt is linked to several conditions, including:
- High blood pressure
- Osteoporosis (bone thinning)
- Stomach cancer
- Stroke
Eating less salt lowers your chance of getting these conditions. If you cut down on salt, your blood pressure levels should drop, and you will be at less risk of a heart attack or stroke, even if you do not have high blood pressure.
All adults should eat less than 6 grams (g) of salt a day – for most people this means cutting salt intake by half. Targets for children are much lower, eg, children aged four to six should only eat up to 3g salt per day. Use the following tips to help you and your family to eat less salt.
Avoid processed foods
- Three-quarters of the salt in our diet is from processed foods like those listed below; avoid these foods altogether or choose low-salt versions if available:
- Bread, sandwiches
- Tinned and packet soups
- Fast foods like hamburgers, Chinese & Indian takeaways
- Salted, smoked or tinned fish
- Most breakfast cereals
- Biscuits, cakes and crackers
- Meat products eg, bacon, sausages, tinned meat
- Baked beans
- Cheese
- Ready-made meals eg, pizzas, pasta dishes, curry
- Snacks – crisps, peanuts, etc
- Instant foods eg, noodles
- Yeast extract eg, Marmite
Eat more natural foods
Natural foods contain little or no salt. Choose:
- Fruits, vegetables, pulses (fresh, frozen, dried or tinned with no salt)
- Starchy foods like potatoes, cassava, yam and grains, eg, oats, rice
- Fresh fish, plain chicken and lean meat, eggs, unsalted nuts & seeds
- Low-fat and low-salt dairy produce like natural yoghurt, skimmed milk
Look at food labels when buying foods
Sometimes sodium is listed on food labels instead of salt. Sodium is one part of
salt (sodium chloride). So, if the label lists sodium, to work out the amount of salt
from the sodium content you should multiply it by 2.5 (since 1g of sodium = 2.5g
salt). If this sounds a little complicated use the following as a guide:
Low
Less than 0.25g salt (0.1g sodium) per 100 grams
Moderate
Between 0.25g salt (0.1g sodium) and 1.25g salt (0.5g sodium) per 100 grams
High
More than 1.25g salt (0.5g sodium) per 100 grams
Foods that contain:
Low amounts of salt are the best choice – you can eat lots of these
Moderate amounts of salt should only be eaten occasionally and in small amounts
High amounts of salt are best avoided
Check the food label to see if it lists the amount of salt per serving or in the whole pack. Remember that in the UK it is now law to display the amount of salt within a serving clearly on ALL food packaging.  You may not be eating the whole pack, so you may need to work out how much salt is in the amount of food you are eating. Remember the target of 6g of salt a day or less – some ready meals contain even more than this in a single
serving!
If there is no label telling you how much salt or sodium is in the food, look at the ingredients list. The closer to the top of the list salt/sodium is, the higher in salt it is likely to be.
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