This week is Salt Awareness Week and this year’s theme is: “Salt: The Hidden Killer.” The aim of this year’s campaign is to raise awareness of the fact that 75% of the salt that the public consumes is hidden in the everyday foods that we buy. The fact that salt is hidden means that people are consuming a lot more salt than they realise. Therefore the public is being urged to read the label of all the foods they buy and select foods that are low in salt.

In order to combat the high salt content of many foods, manufacturers have been asked to take part in a voluntary salt reduction programme. This programme sets salt targets for a range of foods such as meat products, bread, breakfast cereals, cheese and more. New UK-wide targets have been published this year, these targets are a revised version of the previous targets which were published in 2012. The 2012 targets were very successful leading to a 40-50% reduction of salt in the foods covered by the targets. Despite this success, salt consumption still remains high so the new 2017 targets are more challenging and wide-ranging.

A new survey conducted by the Consensus for Action on Salt and Health has found that only one (bread rolls) out of the twenty-eight food categories analysed were on track to meet the salt reduction targets. They also identified specific products that still had a unacceptably high levels of salt, of particular note were:

• Baxters Chef Selections Cullen Skink (1.1g salt/100g), more than 1.5 times salt (per 100g) the maximum salt reduction target for soup
• Aldi The Fishmonger Piri Piri Smoked Mackerel Fillets (8g salt/serving), 4 times more salt (per 100g) the maximum salt reduction target for meal centres
• Galaxy Ultimate Marshmallow Hot Chocolate (0.8g salt per serving), 5 times more salt (per 100g) the maximum salt reduction target for beverages

In the UK, it is recommended that adults eat no more than 6 grams of salt a day (about a teaspoon) and children under the age of 11 should it less, depending on their age as follows:

• 7-10 year olds: no more than 5 grams a day
• 4-6 year olds: no more than 3 grams a day
• 1-3 year olds: no more than 2 grams a day

The World Health Organisation recommends that adults consume even less salt, no more than 5 grams a day. They have concluded that a diet of less than 5 grams of salt a day helps to reduce blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and coronary heart attack.

It is very important that the black community takes steps to reduce their salt intake as the black community is more susceptible to the effect that salt has on increasing blood pressure. In order to reduce your salt consumption you can try:

• Avoiding processed foods
• Using low/no salt seasonings, like this
• Replacing salt, when seasoning food, with herbs and spices
• Reading food labels and selecting foods that are low in salt
• Not adding any salt to the foods that you cook

By reducing the amount of salt we eat, we can reduce our risk of developing a number of diseases so it is important that we stick to the recommendation of less than 6 grams a day.