Many of us are storing up health problems by eating too much salt. The recommended limit is 2.4g of sodium or 6g of salt (1 teaspoon). Eating lots of salt can have serious health problems like high blood pressure, osteoporosis, cancer of the stomach and even kidney failure.

16 million people in the UK are affected by high blood pressure, the higher your blood pressure the greater the risk of strokes, heart and kidney failure and heart attacks.

Cutting down on salt as well as eating sensible and eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, losing weight, taking exercise, not smoking and cutting down on alcohol can all help to reduce your blood pressure.

It is not just a matter of not putting salt out on dining tables at meal times but limiting processed foods. Some foods already contain salt in their natural state and even breads, sauces, soups and cereals at breakfast can contain a high amount of salt.

Food manufacturers are working with Nottingham City Council's catering department and other caterers to try to reduce salt in menu items. They plan to continue with this well into the future. Nottingham City Council's school catering service already purchase low fat, low sugar sponge mixes and have recently completed food testing on low salt mixes, and products containing less salt.

Foods That are Naturally low in salt-

Vegetables, Eggs, Lean meat, fruit,Rice, Pasta Fresh Fish(not shell fish)

High in sodium-

Hard Cheese, Sausages, Smoked meat, Bacon, Gray Granules Yeast Extract.

The food Standards Agencgy ahs a quick guide to help you check which foods are high or low in slat or sodium

High Amount of Salt-

1.25g or more per 100g of product

High amount of Sodium -

0.5g or more per 100g of product

Low amount of salt

0.25g or less per 100g of product

Low amount of sodium

0.1g or less per 100g of product.

Salt is made up of sodium and chloride, in foods this is refered to as just salt. If you look on food labels you will see sodium listed in the nutritional panel. If just Sodium is mentioned multiply by 2.5 to convert to salt. Always check food labels because 'no added salt 'or 'low salt' may just mean no more salt was added on production but these foods may naturally be high in salt as mentioned earlier.