Too much salt in our food, but will low-salt alternatives work?

Salt is one of those vital nutrients that you need in your diet for your body to function, yet far too much of it is being consumed, according to reports. In fact,
while the average daily consumption of salt is supposed to be six grams, figures show that people are regularly consuming between 10 and 12 grams every day.

Many people are unaware of how much salt they are consuming because they fail to check the labels of the food they are eating, then add more salt to the food themselves - often without even trying the food first, simply out of habit of adding salt. Reports show that, of the salt we consume, a massive 75 percent of it is already present in the food we buy, meaning that most people are already consuming too much. Because of this, food manufacturers are coming under increasing pressure to reduce the levels of salt in our food.

Such pressure has led to research on bread - a common food stable of diets the world over - to try and reduce the levels of salt being used in its baking process. The research, conducted by the University College Cork, experimented with both reducing the levels of salt required and removing salt entirely from the bread.

Reported in this month's Food Research International, the conductors of the survey stated: "Omission of salt resulted in uneven crumb structure and high crumb hardness on day five, post-baking; however these effects were not present when salt was included in the formulation, even at low levels of addition, (i.e. 0.6 or 0.3 percent).

"The results indicate that the production of bread containing lower salt levels is technologically feasible, but the taste of the bread needs to be improved."

The report went on to talk about salt being used for taste in bread, suggesting the role salt plays in providing taste to food does play a crucial role, affecting yeast activity, strengthening the gluten network and the gas retention of dough. However the main outcome of their study showed that there is no technological difficulties encountered in the pilot scale production of breads with reduced salt levels.

In addition, the reports added that by lowering the amount of salt you consume, you can find that a wider range of flavours in food as taste buds adjust to having less salt. By consuming less salt, you can also lower blood pressure, another health benefit.

www.salt.gov.uk lists these food to watch out for:

Foods where some brands/recipes are high in salt

* Baked beans
* Breakfast cereals
* Bread products such as crumpets, bagels and ciabatta
* Cooking and pasta sauces
* Crisps
* Pizza
* Ready meals
* Soup
* Sandwiches
* Sausages
* Tomato ketchup, mayonnaise and other sauces

Foods that are often high in salt

* Anchovies
* Bacon
* Cheese
* Chips (if salt added)
* Gravy granules
* Ham
* Olives
* Pickles
* Prawns
* Salami
* Salted and dry roasted nuts
* Salt fish
* Smoked meat and fish
* Soy sauce
* Stock cubes
* Yeast extract

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