New salt warnings

Salt in soup

Of the salt we consume, 75 percent of it is already present in the food we buy. Previous warnings about salt levels stated that we should be aware that bread and breakfast cereals are among the foods which contribute the most salt to our diets - now comes the warnings about salt in soup.

A survey by the health organisation Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) on soup, has found that the food, which is often considered as a healthy light meal or snack alternative, contains too much salt. The organisation has analysed 575 ready-to-eat soup ranges has found that 99 percent of them contained more salt per portion than a packet of crisps. It warned that many of the soups from high street chains and supermarkets, which claimed to be healthy, contained high levels of salt. High consumption of salt is linked to high blood pressure, which increases the risk of a stroke or heart attack.

Adults are advised to eat no more than 6g of salt a day, yet 10 products from EAT, a national chain of 98 sandwich shops, contained more than this. Its "very big" Thai green chicken curry soup has 8.07g in a 907g serving - as much as almost three McDonald's Big Macs and fries, the British paper The Guardian states.

Although there has been an overall 17 percent reduction in salt levels across the products since a similar survey three years ago, a quarter of products still fail to meet the Food Standard Agency's 2010 target of 0.6g salt per 100g.

The highest regular-sized high street takeaway soup found was the Caffe Nero organic carrot and coriander at 3.6g per portion, over three and a half times more salty than the lowest, a Malaysian chicken soup from Pret a Manger at 1g.

New Covent Garden's Scotch Broth had the most salt among the supermarket brands, at 2.4g per 300g, or five packs of crisps. Tideford Organics Moroccan Vegetable contained the lowest amount at 0.44g per 300g portion.

Batchelors Soupfulls classic beef and vegetable had 3g per 400g portion, and Heinz Taste of Home Lancashire lamb hotpot 2.6g per 430g portion.

Reducing amounts

Katharine Jenner, a Cash nutritionist, told the Press Association: "This survey shows huge amounts of salt can be hidden in seemingly healthy choices such as soup."

She added, "People tend to think salt is only in crisps, snacks and ready meals. But this survey shows huge amounts of salt can be hidden in seemingly healthy choices such as soup.

"While there are still soups being manufactured with really high levels of hidden salt, it is hard for us to cut down our salt intake to less than 6g of salt a day from the current average of 8.6g a day. "We urge manufacturers to reduce their salt content immediately."

Professor Graham MacGregor, Cash chairman, said: "It is the very high levels of salt that are put in our food that leads to thousands of unnecessary stroke and heart deaths. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that salt intake is linked to stomach cancer, osteoporosis, obesity and kidney stones and kidney disease."

Jodie Humphries

Jodie Humphries graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA Hons in Creative Writing in 2008. She has worked for GDS Publishing for the digital group since July 2009. She has previous experience with writing for the web, running her own website since April 2007.

Related News:

Are sodium levels in food becoming dangerous? |Salt consumption: are you getting too much? |Which contains less sugar, a bowl of cereal or a jam doughnut |How healthy is a child's packed lunch?

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: