SALT CONSUMPTION

Salt and its effect on health

All of the cells in the human body require salt to function as it is vital for the transportation of water and sending messages from the brain to the whole body and vice versa.  However, we must be careful with the amounts of salt we consume in our diets as excessive salt consumption can lead to multiple health issues such as: 

1.     water retention

2.     raised blood pressure

3.     risks of heart attack

4.     kidney disease

5.     stroke

Ways to avoid excessive salt consumption: 

1.     Be mindful of ready and packaged foods as they can have hidden salt percentages which could lead to an overall increase of your daily salt consumption. 

2.     To avoid excess salt intake when consuming packaged food, look at the packaging and pay particular attention to the food label. Note that different brands of the same food can contain different amounts of salt therefore try to compare brands and go for the one with the least salt content.

3.     When you are cooking homemade meals avoid using salt and try experimenting with other herbs and spices that can make your food tasty and low in salt at the same time. 

4.     On some packages you might notice that instead of salt they use the work sodium. Remember that 1g of sodium equates to 2.5g of salt and therefore being mindful of this can help you avoid buying the wrong products that are misleading towards salt content. 

5.     If you have been advised by your doctor to lower you salt intake for health reasons, you should be mindful of dissolvable medications as they can sometimes contain up to 1g of salt per tablet. Switching to the non-dissolvable alternative would be beneficial to those taking medication on a daily basis. 

Salt requirements:

Adults

No more than 6g of salt per day (2.4g sodium) – that's around 1 teaspoon.

Children

• 1 to 3 years old should eat ≤2g salt per day (0.8g sodium)

• 4 to 6 years old should eat ≤3g salt per day (1.2g sodium)

• 7 to 10 years old should eat ≤5g salt per day (2g sodium)

• 11 years old and above should eat ≤6g salt per day (2.4g sodium)

Babies (less than 1 year old)

Babies should have less than 1g of salt per day because their kidneys

are not fully developed to process it yet.

Salt alternatives & Food pairings:

REFERENCES

Bda.uk.com. 2022. Salt. [online] Available at: <https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/salt.html> [Accessed 5 April 2022].

Bibbins-Domingo, K., 2010. Projected effect of dietary salt reductions on future cardiovascular disease. Epub, 362(7), pp.590-599.

Actiononsalt.org.uk. 2022. Action on Salt - Action on Salt. [online] Available at: <https://www.actiononsalt.org.uk> [Accessed 5 April 2022].

Nhs.uk. 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.nhs.uk/ipgmedia/National/British%20Dietetic%20Association/assets/HypertensionFoodFactSheet.pdf> [Accessed 7 April 2022].