Be Salt Aware! Pick Up a Salt-o-Meter
Salt Awareness Week begins on Monday 29th January, and Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service are supporting the event by offering Warwickshire consumers free salt-o-meters to help enable them to make informed choices about salt in foods when they shop.
The salt-o-meter is a credit-card-sized guide that helps consumers work out if a food contains a little or a lot of salt.
To receive a free salt-o-meter, freephone 0800 413332 or visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/saltaware and order on line.
Adults should be eating no more than 6 grams of salt a day – that’s a level teaspoon full – and children less, but on average adults consume over 9 grams, and some much more!
Most of the salt we eat, we don’t add to the food ourselves, it is already there, hidden inside. In fact 75% of the salt we consumer daily is hidden in everyday foods! This is why it is so important for consumers to check food labels if they wish to reduce the amount of salt they are eating.
Mark Ryder, Head of Warwickshire Trading Standards Service said:
“As a Service that is committed to ensuring that food is correctly and accurately labelled, we are delighted to be able to support this campaign. I would strongly urge consumers to take advantage of our free salt-o-meter offer to enable them to make informed choices about the amount of salt they choose to consume”.
Any food that contains 1.25g of salt or more per 100g is considered a high salt product, whilst any food that contains 0.25g of salt or less per 100g is considered a low salt product.
For pre-prepared foods, look at the ‘amount per serving’, and for snacks such as crisps or nuts check the ‘per 100g’ information.
The recommended daily maximum consumption of salt depends upon our age. For children aged 1 to 3 years it’s 2 g salt a day (0.8g sodium); 4 to 6 years - 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium); 7 to 10 years - 5g salt a day (2g sodium) and 11 and over - 6g salt a day (2.5g sodium). Babies need only a very small amount of salt - less than 1g a day up to 12 months. Their kidneys can’t cope with larger amounts of salt.
Babies who are breastfed will get the right amount of salt through breast milk. Infant formula contains a similar amount.
Remember not to add salt to food you give to your baby. And be careful not to give him/her processed foods that aren’t made specifically for babies, such as breakfast cereals and pasta sauces, because these can be high in salt.
Eating too much salt can raise your blood pressure. And high blood pressure increases your risk of heart disease and stroke.
Cutting down on salt reduces blood pressure, whether or not your blood pressure is high to start with, and, if you have high blood pressure, cutting down on salt can help to lower your blood pressure in weeks.
Experts estimate that if average consumption was cut to 6g a day it would prevent 70,000 heart attacks and strokes a year.
We all need a little bit of salt - it helps body cells to absorb nutrients - but the vast majority of us eat too much of it.
What you can do to reduce your salt intake:
· Add less salt to your cooking until you can cut it out altogether.
· Avoid adding salt to your meal at the table – try adding herbs instead to flavour.
· Watch out for salty snacks such as crisps and nuts, and highly salted products such as bacon, cheese, ready meals and takeaways.
· Be careful also of cooking sauces – these can also contain high levels of salt.
For further information, visit our website http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/saltaware.