Too much salt leads to a high blood pressure

We all need salt to help maintain fluid balance and blood pressure, but we need it in small amounts. Food experts recommend it is a good idea to manage your total intake, and to keep it to the Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) or less i.e. 6 gram per day. It’s also worth checking which foods give you lots of salt and bump you up quickly to the GDA, or aren’t contributing much towards the GDA.

What is salt?

Salt is the common name for sodium chloride. It's totally natural and has been used for centuries to preserve meat and fish and give flavor to food. The sodium in it helps control the balance of water in the body and keeps our nerves and muscles working as they should. Eating too much salt is linked to high blood pressure which may increase the risk of a stroke and heart disease.

Sodium and salt

The nutrition labels on most packs show the amount of sodium in the food. To work out the amount of salt you have to multiply the sodium content in grams by 2.5. So if a portion of food contains 1.2 g of sodium, it contains 3 g of salt.

For those who are interested: The factor 2.5 is found as follows: Sodium has an atomic mass of approximately 23 u. Sodiumchloride consists of 1 sodium (Na) and 1 chlorine ion. A chlorine atom has an atomic mass of 35.5 u. When you multiply 23 by 2.5 you'll get the mass of NaCl: (35.5+23)/23 = 2.5.
Some foods are high in sodium and so will appear high in salt even if they don't taste salty (see table below).

Lowering how much salt you need

Health experts have an easy way for you to cut out salt. Try not to add it at the table or in cooking unless advised by your doctor. If that's a shock to your tastebuds, reduce it for a week or two so they get used to it and try using herbs, spices, lemon or lime juice, and onion and pepper instead.

Look out for hidden salt

The nutritional signposts show interesting facts about the salt in food and are helpful in flagging up the salt you can't see. It is important to be aware not only of how much salt you might be adding to your food at home but also the percentage of salt in processed foods. 75% of the salt we eat comes from processed foods and it comes sometimes surprising to see which are high in salt:

Obviously salty	Less obviously salty
Salted & dry roasted nuts	Hot Chocolate
Crisps	Biscuits (sweet & savoury)
Olives	Breakfast Cereal
Anchovies	Baked Beans
	Cheese
	Sausages

View this article in Dutch at Lekker-in-je-vel.nl: Teveel zout leidt tot een hoge bloeddruk.

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 | Posted in: Nourishment | Posted by: Jeremy Walters

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