Salt

Adults should have no more than 6 grams (g) of salt a day. On average people are actually having about 8.6g of salt a day.

Why we should cut down

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%) of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy.

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!

In the UK, 85% men and 69% women eat too much salt. And remember that three-quarters of the salt we eat comes from foods that already contain it. So you could easily be eating too much salt without realising it.

 

Sodium

Salt is made up of sodium and chloride. And it's the sodium in salt that can be bad for your health.

You will usually see sodium included in the nutrition information on food labels. Many products also say how much salt they contain.

Salt = sodium x 2.5.

See below for advice on checking labels.

Checking labels

Here is a quick way to tell if a food is high in salt by looking at the nutritional information on the label.

Look at the figure for salt per 100g.

High is more than 1.5g salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium)
Low is 0.3g salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium)

If the amount of salt per 100g is in between these figures, then that is a medium level of salt.

Remember that the amount you eat of a particular food affects how much salt you will get from it.

 

Tips for cutting down

Here are a few practical tips to help you cut down:
 

• Check the labels on foods such as soups, sandwiches, pasta sauces and ready meals, so you can choose those with less added salt.
• Add less salt to your cooking.
• Get out of the habit of adding salt to your food. Try to remember to taste it first.
• Cut down on salty snacks such as crisps and nuts, and heavily salted foods such as bacon, cheese, pickles and smoked fish.
• Choose tinned vegetables, pulses and fish that say 'no added salt'.
• Choose lower-salt stock cubes, make your own stock, or add herbs and spices for flavour instead.
• Watch out for soy sauce, brown sauce, mayonnaise and ketchup because these can be high in salt.

Babies and children

Babies only need a very small amount of salt - less than 1g a day until they are 6 months old and no more than 1g a day from 7 to 12 months.

Babies who are breastfed get the right amount of salt through breast milk and infant formula contains a similar amount.

Remember not to add salt to food you make for your baby or give to him or her because their kidneys can't cope with any extra salt. And be careful not to give your baby foods that aren't made specifically for babies, such as breakfast cereals and pasta sauces, because these can be high in salt.

There is also no need to add salt to your child's food. If you're buying foods, even those aimed at children, remember to check the information given on the labels so you can choose those with less salt.

These are the maximum amounts of salt children should have in a day:
 

• 1 to 3 years - 2g a day (0.8g sodium)
• 4 to 6 years - 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium)
• 7 to 10 years - 5g a day (2g sodium)
• 11 and over - 6g a day (2.5g sodium)

Although we don't have reliable information to tell us how many children are eating too much salt, the information we do have suggests that many children are eating more than these maximum amounts.