The hidden salt in your diet


You may think you are eating a healthy diet. But food experts claim there is a hidden danger in much of the food we eat: salt.

Nutritionists are warning that it is not only the salt we sprinkle over our food that we need to be wary of.

They claim it's the salt added into our food before we buy it that may be secretly putting our health at risk.

Although vital in small amounts, excess salt can lead to everything from high blood pressure and heart attacks to strokes, osteoporosis and asthma.

Much of this salt is hidden.

A huge 85 per cent of the salt we consume each year - 220,000 tons - is added by the UK food industry and is enough to fill St Paul's Cathedral.

Soup, pizzas, chicken nougats and ready-made Indian meals are some of the worst offenders for containing high levels of salt, experts warn.

Recent studies show that a half-teaspoon reduction in salt intake a day would reduce strokes in the UK by 25 per cent and heart attacks by 16 per cent.

The UK target for salt intake is five to six grams a day, but current salt intake is twice this amount at 10 to 12 grams a day.

The labels on most foods don't say how much salt there is in a product, and instead give the sodium content per 100g of food. To convert sodium to salt you need to multiply the amount of sodium by 2.5 ie: one gram of sodium per 100g equals 2.5 grams of salt per 100g.

There are other forms of salt such as rock, sea and other high salt flavour enhancers like stock cubes and Soya sauce, which should also be avoided.

But most of this salt is added to products such as bread, some cereals, ready meals and processed meats without our knowledge, according to campaigners.

Nutritionists advise switching to more fresh foods such as fruit, vegetables, fish, chicken and lean meat which are high in potassium and therefore help lower blood pressure.

The hidden salt in your food:

Here are eight foods which have hidden high salt levels.

•Bread (half a gram a slice)

•Biscuits (half a gram in two biscuits)

•Canned soup (three grams)

•Cornflakes (one gram)

•Chicken nuggets (two to three grams of salt is often contained in the coating on the nuggets)

•Ready-made Indian meal (two to three grams)

•Pizza (two and a half grams)

•50 grams of Stilton cheese (one gram)


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