In light of Salt Awareness Week last week, World Action on Salt & Health’s aim is to bring about a reduction in salt intake throughout the world.
Salt isn’t only added to our food via the saltshaker at the kitchen table, it is also added to other products such as bread, breakfast cereal, cakes, biscuits and sauces.
Better Health (2018) states that sodium (a mineral and chemical element found in salt) is needed by the body to help regulate fluid levels, but there is generally more than enough dietary sodium in a natural diet without any added salt.
The National Health and Medical Research Council has set the ‘Adequate Intake’ of salt to be 1.15-2.3 grams per day – most Australian’s have a daily intake of about 10 grams per day! Therefore, the ‘Suggested Dietary Target’ of salt intake has been set to 4 grams per day – this is about 1 teaspoon of salt per day.
What are the health affects of too much salt in your diet?
According to the Heart Foundation:
- Hypertension (raised blood pressure) – uncontrolled blood pressure can lead to complications such as heart attack and stroke;
- Kidney problems and kidney stones – your kidneys are responsible for filtering your blood and removing waste products from your body;
- Oedema (Fluid retention) – This can appear to look like swelling or puffiness of a particular part of the body – oedema is often secondary to heart problems;
- Stroke – most strokes are caused by an abrupt blockage of arteries leading to the brain cutting off blood supply, otherwise bleeding into the brain;
- Left ventricular hypertrophy (thickening of the heart muscle) – This causes other changes to the heart such as the heart not pumping as well as it should and the heart muscle not receiving enough oxygen;
- Osteoporosis – bones become brittle due to loss of bone density, leading to more serious problems such as fractures and chronic pain;
Tips and tricks from the experts to reduce salt intake:
According to Vic Health:
- Eat more fresh vegetables and fruit which are naturally low in salt;
- Cut back on salty packaged or processed foods such as potato chips, packet soups and sauces;
- Use herbs and spices to flavour your food instead;
- Check food labels – look for foods that are less than 400mg sodium per 100g;
- Buy salt-reduced breads, or read the labels and find a lower salt option;
- Cut back on processed meats such as bacon, ham, chorizo and salami;
- When cooking, limit salty sauces and condiments such as stock, soy and fish sauce;
- Take the saltshaker away from the table;
- Eat take-away meals occasionally;