Salt Awareness Week: Salt Reduction

Monday 29th January sees the start of Salt Awareness Week, and this year the focus will be on progress made over the past 10 years in terms of salt reduction and improvements in labelling.

Information from the Food Standards Agency advises Adults should have no more than 6 grams of salt a day. On average people are actually having about 9.5g of salt a day. This means we are eating nearly 60% more salt than we should. Eating too much salt can raise your blood pressure. And people with high blood pressure are three times more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke than people with normal blood pressure. When most people think of salt, they think of shaking it on their food, or adding a pinch to cooking. But the salt we add ourselves makes up just a quarter of the salt we eat. Three-quarters (75%) comes from processed food, such as some breakfast cereals, soups, sauces, biscuits and ready meals. Lots of people think they don't eat a lot of salt, especially if they don't add it to their food. But don't be so sure! Be salt conscious and always check labels.