Salt in food

Many of us enjoy a bit of salt on our food. And you might think you don’t eat much salt, especially if you don’t add it to your food. But don’t be so sure. What we don’t realise is that salt is hidden in everyday foods that don’t even taste that salty! Things like bread, breakfast cereal, ready meals, sauces, baked beans and pizza. In fact, three quarters of the salt that we eat is found in the foods we buy. It means that most of us are eating much more salt than we realise, and that’s before we add any salt while cooking or at the table. The bad news is that too much salt in food can raise your blood pressure, which means we are more at risk of getting heart disease or having a stroke. To stay healthy, our goal should be to eat no more than 6g of salt a day for adults– that’s around a teaspoonful, which isn’t very much at all. That’s why it’s so important to watch the salt – both how much we add to food and how much is in the foods that we buy.

For more information on salt visit the Government's Change 4 Life website