For a healthy diet, and to lower the risk of numerous health problems such as high blood pressure and heart disease, it is important to reduce the amount of salt you consume on a daily basis. However, the salt you add to your food at the dinner table is only a fraction of the problem, as over 75 per cent of the salt we eat is already in food when we purchase it.
Experts suggest that adults should consume no more than six grams of salt each day, which amounts to around one full teaspoon. For children, this is even lower. – Babies and children under 11 should not eat any more than 1g of salt per day. Breastfed babies will actually get their salt intake through their mother’s milk, whilst formula contains a similar amount. As you wean your child, try to avoid adding salt to their food and don’t give children salty snacks, so as to avoid them developing a taste for salt.
One way of cutting back on salt is to simply stop adding it to food, both when it is cooked but also during cooking as well. Initially, food will taste bland in comparison but, as your taste develops, you’ll discover the true taste of foods and your need for salt will diminish. Another way to monitor your salt intake is to check the labels of your food – the majority of packaging now has a traffic light system to highlight any offenders, with red labels being higher than the recommended amount.
Anything with more than 1.5g of salt per 100g is particularly high, so these products should only be eaten on occasion. Some labels may list salt as sodium instead, but you can still calculate the quantity easily – simply multiply the sodium figure by 2.5 and you will be left with the quantity of salt in the product. Although salt is found in a number of foods, there are simply and effective ways of reducing your intake and avoiding the risk of developing health problems in the future.
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