SALT
While too much salt can be harmful, the biggest culprit is highly processed table salt, which is found everywhere from snacks and sauces to ready meals. Switching your regular table salt to an unprocessed, natural variety could help, says Angela Kennedy.
BEING “WORTH YOUR SALT” is a saying that reflects how highly those white flakes of intense flavour were once prized. Historically they were a valuable commodity – but now they’ve become a bit of a salty issue. While too much salt might be bad for your health, you do need some for your body to function. ‘Salt is the primary source of the mineral sodium. Your body needs sodium in very small amounts for many essential body functions, including fluid balance, nerve health, nutrient absorption, and muscle function,’ says Sonia Pombo, nutritionist and spokesperson for Action on Salt (actiononsalt.org.uk).
Sonia says we need about 1g of salt per day, which is about a pinch. But the problem is we’re eating up to 10g per day because the food industry throws piles of salt into processed foods, such as bread, tinned soup, sauces, processed meat and even cakes. ‘This means you can be eating, on average, 40 per cent more than the maximum recommended intake of 6g per day,’ says Sonia. ‘Eating too much salt can raise blood pressure, which is the major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and stroke – responsible for one in four deaths in the UK.’
Interestingly, binning all the salt in your kitchen cupboards may not be the answer however, as several studies have thrown up red flags about salt-restriction diets.
‘Salt can be a tricky issue as there is lots of conflicting information,’ says nutritionist Emma Thornton (avogel.co.uk). ‘Certainly it has been linked to raising blood pressure, but if your blood pressure is normal, some research suggests low-sodium diets could lead to increased insulin resistance, while other studies indicate sodium-restrictive diets may be linked to increased levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides*, with one study finding a 4.6 per cent and 5.9 per cent increase, respectively. A big problem in the UK is the type of salt eaten: for instance, pouring piles of table salt on fish and chips or eating processed foods,’ she says.
So, the main reason you might have too much salt won’t be from adding a few flakes of artisan sea or rock salt to home cooking but from the masses of table salt hidden in highly processed, quick-fix foods, usually in the form of powder-like, industrially processed and often bleached table salt, which has given other natural, unprocessed types a bad reputation.
6g ...the maximum amount of salt you should consume per day, which is about 1 tsp (level) for adults, according to the organisation Action on Sal
