How much salt is good for me?

Salt is a common seasoning. Many people add it to recipes and use it as seasoning on food. While many people claim they cannot taste their dinner without some seasoning, cutting back will help you discover flavors you never knew were there.

We all need a little bit of salt because it helps our body's cells to absorb nutrients. However, the majority of us eat two-and-a-half times too much. It may come as a surprise, but 75% of the salt we eat comes from readymade foods, such as bread, cereals and baked beans. Even sweet things, like cookies, have salt added to them.

Sodium chloride

The technical name for salt is sodium chloride. The sodium part helps to keep your body fluids at the right concentration. If you eat too much salt, the volume of body fluids increases and pushes up your blood pressure. High blood pressure, or hypertension, can lead to heart disease or stroke.

On average, people eat about 9.5g salt (about 3.7g sodium) a day. This may not sound like much, but to reduce the risk of disease, we should not be eating more than 6g salt (2.5g sodium) a day, and levels should be much lower than this for babies and children. Babies should have less than 1g of salt a day, and the daily salt intake of young children varies depending on their age.

As salt is often a 'hidden ingredient' in many foods, it can be difficult to work out how much you are eating. Some foods, such as chips, olives and bacon, taste obviously salty and are easy to spot if you are trying to cut down. To keep track of hidden salt, get into the habit of reading the nutritional information on food, where you will find the salt (sodium) content per 100g. As a rough guide:

• a high amount of salt is more than 1.5 per 100g (0.6g sodium), and
• a low amount of salt is 0.3 g per 100g (0.1g sodium)

Making changes to your diet can also help you to cut down your salt intake. Why not try the following:

• reduce the amount of salt during cooking, instead flavor food with herbs, spices, garlic and lemon juice,
• try not to add extra seasoning to your food (at least taste it first),
• look for tinned vegetables and legumes without added salt,
• if you buy ready meals, look for those with controlled or reduced salt,
• buy tinned food in water rather than brine,
• cut down on salty foods such as chips, nuts, bacon and salty cheeses,
• avoid using sauces, such as mayonnaise and ketchup with your meal, as these are often high in salt, and
• choose low-salt stock cubes or make your own stock.

For further information:

Diet

How can I eat healthily at home?

Sodium and salt (Food Standards Agency)

Salt tips (Food Standards Agency)

Salt myths (Food Standards Agency)

Salt: friend or foe? (BBC Food)

Do we need extra salt in hot weather?