A survey this week reveals that the majority of people are still eating 50% more salt than they should be.

Do you know how much salt you should eat each day?  It should be no more than 6g per day ... that's as little as one teaspoon!

You may think it would be easy to avoid eating more than that by just not putting salt on your food, but the majority of salt in our diet is already in the food that we eat. 

How can you tell how much salt you are eating?  Identifying how much salt is in your food can be difficult.  Don't rely on taste alone, many foods that contain a lot of salt also contain a lot of sugar which masks the taste.  The new labelling guidelines from the Food Standards Agency can help.  Most products are now clearly labelled with how much salt is contained.

Foods that contain more than 1.5g of salt or 0.6g of sodium per 100g are classed as "High" and should be eaten in small portions or should not be eaten regularly.  Foods that contain less than 0.3g of salt or 0.1g of sodium per 100g are classed as "Low" and are safe to be eaten more regularly or in larger portions.  Anything in between is classed as "Medium" and should be eaten in moderate amounts.

Why should you avoid eating salt?  Salt can lead to increased blood pressure.  Most people don't know that they have high blood pressure until it starts causing problems.  Those with high blood pressure are three times more likely to suffer from heart disease or stroke.  Avoiding high levels of salt is one of the best ways of avoiding high blood pressure.

For more information visit: http://www.salt.gov.uk