This is part 6 in a 7 part series on using food labels to improve your nutrition. If you haven’t read the other posts, I suggest you start here so you can see links to all the posts from start to finish.
Salt summary
This one is simple: reduce your intake of salt.
- Reduce the intake of products with a high salt content
- Minimise the amount of salt added during cooking or at the table
Salt in detail
Many people’s diet is way too high in salt.
Recommendations by the NHS in the UK are that adults should consume no more than 6g of salt per day. That’s the equivalent of about 1 teaspoon.
When you consider that a single slice of pizza can contain more than a quarter of your daily recommended intake, it’s easy to see why most of us consume more than the guidelines.
The problem with a diet high in salt is that it can cause high blood pressure, which can lead to many other health issues (for example heart disease, stroke and kidney disease).
My main recommendation in the area of salt is to reduce your intake wherever possible.
Many foods already contain salt, so you probably already reach the recommended intake without adding any further salt to your dishes.
If you normally add a lot of salt when you are cooking, or directly onto your food once at the table, try to gradually reduce the amount.
Real life tip: when reducing added salt you may think foods taste bland at first, but your taste buds adapt quite quickly. Soon you will find dishes with a lot of added salt taste too salty.
In order to improve your nutrition, get into the habit of checking the salt content on the food label. Where possible minimise the number of products you are eating that contain a high amount of salt.
Be aware that salt may also be listed as “sodium” on a food label.
| High in salt or sodium | Low in salt or sodium |
| More than 1.5g per 100g (or 0.6 of sodium) | 0.3g or less per 100g (or 0.1g of sodium) |
Common foods high in salt: salty snacks (such as chips/crisps and salted nuts), cured meat, bacon, sausages, smoked fish, many cheeses, some breads, pizza, many convenience foods (such as ready-meals, shop-bought pasta sauces and soups, pot noodles, salad dressings, instant puddings), some canned vegetables, soy sauce, salted butter……the list goes on
No “one size fits all” approach
As with most things in life, there is no “one size fits all” approach.
The recommendations above are aimed at generally healthy people, who do not have underlying health issues, which can be impacted by nutrition.
Health issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, cancer, arthritis and many many others require a diet specifically tailored to the individual. That is out of the scope of this article. Before making any major changes to your diet, you should consult a doctor or a registered dietician.
Other posts in this series
