Are you eating too much salt?
Thursday 1st February, 2007
West Sussex Primary Care Trust (PCT) supports the battle against salt during Salt Awareness Week 2007, 29th January to 4th February 2007.
The focus of the 2007 Salt Awareness Week is encouraging people to avoid foods that are high in salt. Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) is working with the food industry and supermarkets to bring about a reduction in the amount of salt that is added to our food. Over the last few years there have been many plans in place to reduce the intake of salt even further, but the message still needs to get across, especially to those people who buy a lot of ready-made foods, that a reduction in salt will bring a real health benefit.
Graham MacGregor, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Chairman of CASH comments, “Salt increases blood pressure which is the major cause of strokes, heart attacks and heart failure. We all need to be able to choose foods that are much lower in salt. This is why clear labelling of the salt content is so important. If products were properly labelled, people would be able to see how much salt they are getting from a serving and therefore be able to make an informed choice and choose products that are lower in salt.”
Sylke Bertram-Barclay, Dietician at West Sussex PCT said, “In the population as a whole, we would save 35, 000 lives each year if we all ate no more than 6g of salt a day. But it is important to remember that most of the salt we eat (about 80%) comes from ready-made foods, with only 15% coming from salt we ourselves add to cooking or at the table. So we need to read food labels to check just how much salt we are actually eating.”
What can you do to reduce your salt intake?
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Read the label first - compare products & choose ones with less salt or sodium
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Don’t add salt to your cooking or food at the table – give it 2-3 weeks, your taste receptors will adjust and you’ll find food tasting great and high salt foods unpleasant
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Avoid processed foods
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Eat more fruit and vegetables and less saturated fat
For more information on salt, please visit www.actiononsalt.org.uk
