{"id":224616,"date":"2026-01-07T03:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T03:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/224616\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T03:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T03:06:09","slug":"how-much-salt-are-you-really-eating-you-will-be-surprised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/224616\/","title":{"rendered":"How much salt are you really eating? You will be surprised\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve spent the past two weeks tucking into mince pies, pigs in blankets and Twiglets, you might want to look away now. A study published this week found UK adults are consuming daily the equivalent in salt of 22 bags of crisps. That\u2019s 8.4g.<\/p>\n

The British Heart Foundation (BHF), along with YouGov, polled over 2,000 adults and found that 56 per cent of us don\u2019t realise how much salt we\u2019re consuming. While only 19 per cent know that the NHS recommended daily intake of salt is no more than 6g (about a teaspoon). <\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the salt we eat is hidden in the food we buy, such as bread, cereals, premade sauces and ready meals, so it\u2019s often hard to know exactly how much salt we\u2019re consuming,\u201d says Dell Stanford from the BHF. \u201cThis is bad news for our heart health, as eating too much salt significantly increases the risk of high blood pressure, a major cause of heart attacks, strokes and other serious diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helen Bond, a dietician, agrees: \u201cThe government\u2019s latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey found we\u2019re eating around 40 per cent more salt than recommended. The problem is most of us simply don\u2019t know how much salt is in our diet. And too much is one of the main drivers of high blood pressure, which is a key risk factor for heart disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bond says much of our salt intake comes from processed food \u2014 the kind we don\u2019t cook ourselves, such as bread, ready-made soups, dips, spreads and ready meals. <\/p>\n

\u2022 The 10 ways to lead a healthier, longer life<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cJunk food often comes with a lot of salt, which is why this week the government\u2019s ban on junk food advertising comes into force,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it\u2019s not just the obvious, junky contenders like takeaways and crisps that we need to worry about. Seemingly healthy foods like smoked salmon and baked beans can also contain a fair amount of salt. Just because something doesn\u2019t taste salty doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s low in salt, so it\u2019s important to check food labels and look for a green traffic light.\u201d <\/p>\n

Along with calorie content, the traffic light labelling system tells us whether a food is high (red), medium (amber) or low (green) in things such as fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt. When it comes to salt, green indicates a food contains less than 0.3g per 100g, amber contains between 0.3g and 1.5g, while a red traffic light means it contains more than 1.5g of salt per 100g. <\/p>\n

As well as looking for green labels, Bond recommends going for the reduced salt options where possible, especially when it comes to tinned food such as baked beans, and soy sauce. \u201cCook from scratch whenever you can so you know exactly what\u2019s going into your food, and use herbs, spices, garlic and chilli to flavour it, which means you\u2019ll be less likely to want to add salt.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Read more expert advice on healthy living, fitness and wellbeing<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cRemember that even the fancy or more expensive types of salt, such as Himalayan sea salt or Cornish sea salt, are still salt and will still put your blood pressure up.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lastly, Bond says, when it comes to reducing your salt intake, it\u2019s just as important to think about what you are consuming as it is to think about what you\u2019re not: \u201cThe potassium found in fruits and vegetables help balance out the salt in our diet, so ensure you\u2019re tucking into plenty.\u201d <\/p>\n

With that in mind, here\u2019s how much salt is in your favourite foods\u2026<\/p>\n

Soups\"Two<\/p>\n

Bond says homemade soups are a great way to get more vegetables into your diet, but if you\u2019re buying them ready-made, keep an eye on the salt content and don\u2019t add more salt to them after heating. <\/p>\n

\u2022 M&S chunky chicken & root vegetable soup \u2014 0.68g per 100g (half a tub provides 2.4g salt)
\u2022 New Covent Garden Soup Co creamy tomato soup \u2014 0.43g per 100g (half a pack contains 1.2g salt)
\u2022 Pret\u2019s lasagne soup \u2014 0.67g per 100g (one serving pot contains 2.43g salt) <\/p>\n

Tinned beans \"Two<\/p>\n

These are generally healthy, Bond says, but always go for the low salt option. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Heinz baked beans \u2014 0.6g per 100g (1.3g salt per \u00bd can)
\u2022 Mr Organic baked beans \u2014 0.76g per 100g (1.5g per \u00bd can) <\/p>\n

Bread \"Three<\/p>\n

A 2023 study from Action on Salt found that three out of four loaves of supermarket sliced bread contained as much salt in one slice as a bag of ready salted crisps. \u201cBread is fine, but it can quickly contribute to your daily salt intake,\u201d Bond says.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Jason\u2019s Grains & Seeds Ciabattin Sourdough \u2014 0.84g per 100g (0.45g per slice)
\u2022 Waitrose No 1 White Sourdough Bread \u2014 0.95g per 100g (0.59g salt per slice)
\u2022 Warburtons wholemeal sliced bread \u2014 0.95g per 100g (0.43g salt per slice) <\/p>\n

Dips \"Three<\/p>\n

These can be incredibly moreish, Bond says, and can quickly increase your salt intake if you\u2019re dunking salty crackers or crisps into them. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Sainsbury\u2019s Classic Houmous \u2014 0.7g per 100g (\u00bc pot contains 0.5g salt)
\u2022 Waitrose Taramasalata Dip \u2014 0.98g per 100g (\u00bc pot contains 0.41g salt)
\u2022 M&S Onion & Garlic Dip \u2014 0.83g per 100g <\/p>\n

How much salt is in?<\/p>\n

\u2022 Smoked back bacon \u2014 2.08g per 2 rashers
\u2022 Parmesan \u2014 0.8g per 50g serving
\u2022 Marmite \u2014 10.8g per 100g (0.86g per serving)
\u2022 Mature cheddar cheese \u2014 0.8g per 50g serving
\u2022 Feta \u2014 1.1g per 50g serving
\u2022 Cured oak smoked salmon \u2014 1.5g per 3 slices
\u2022 Halloumi \u2014 1.3g per 50g serving<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve spent the past two weeks tucking into mince pies, pigs in blankets and Twiglets, you might…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,85,46,543],"class_list":{"0":"post-224616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}