Salt & the impact it can have on your heart health

Where is the salt in my diet?

Taking control of your diet is the best way to get a grip on your blood pressure and overall heart health. However, it’s not as simple as sprinkling less salt on your meal, it’s important to know where the salt in your diet comes from. 

Did you know that around 75% of the salt in our diets is already added to foods before we buy them? And while some naturally have salt in, others have salt added when they’re packaged or made. Only 15% of the salt in our diets comes from natural sources and 10% is added during cooking or at the table.

How much salt should I have in my diet?

Adults should have no more than 6 grams of salt a day, which is equal to about 1 level teaspoon. This includes salt that’s already in our food, salt added during cooking, and salt added after cooking. 

Here’s the NHS-recommended salt intake based on age: 

What foods should I look out for?

It can be daunting entering a shop or supermarket when you’re trying to follow a heart healthy diet and cut out things that you know aren’t good for you. The following foods are all examples of things to look out for, but if you’re not sure read on to find out how packaging can help you make the right decisions.

How can I keep track of how much salt in my diet?

The easiest way to keep track of your daily salt intake is to look at the labels on the packet. Most packaging will include colour-coded nutritional information labels like below.

They’re simple to follow: if you want to eat less salt, avoid foods that have red salt labels, giving preference to greens and ambers instead.

Some labels will have just salt listed, others will have just sodium, and others will have both. The following is the different levels per 100g:

If only sodium is listed on the label rather than salt, you can work out the salt amount by multiplying the amount of sodium by 2.5.  

If neither are listed, you should look at the list of ingredients and if you spot things like salt, sodium chloride, monosodium glutamate (MSG), sodium bicarbonate, and sodium nitrate, then it’s likely it will have a high amount of salt. 

What food swaps can you do for your heart health?

Enter our very own swap shop, where you can find inspiration to be out with the old diet, and in with a new, heart-friendly approach to eating.

The NHS even has the perfect activity – the Salt Taste Challenge. Cut down your usage over a period of a few weeks and see if you really miss it? You might surprise yourself and boost your heart health and the same time! 

What other help is available?

If you want more help reducing salt in your diet, there are number of different resources you can use. The NHS Food Scanner app gives you nutritional information of any foods you can scan and offers healthier alternatives there and then. You can also visit NHS Healthier Families; their Salt page has more info on high sodium foods and alternatives, while Recipes gives you all manner of heart healthy mealtime ideas to work through.