Although the targets are voluntary Public Health England say the risk to health is still extreme and manufacturers should be doing more.
Sputnik spoke with Mel Wakeman, a Registered Nutrition Consultant and Applied Physiologist about these salt levels in British foods.
Mel Wakeman: I’m not surprised I guess as we’ve known for some time that we are having too much salt in our diets and we know where this salt is coming from in terms of processed meat.
I think as our diet has become more convenient based, we end up having more processed foods. I’m not surprised we are over our recommended level amount of salt in our diet.
There is a time lag as we wait for manufacturers to reformulate their recipes and reduce the salt intake in the food they are making.
Sputnik: Do you feel the voluntary measures are enough?
Our challenge as a member of the public is that 75% of the salt that we eat is hidden in everyday foods so we might assume it is in your processed meats.
However, when we think of staple foods like bread and cheese and cereal, we need to be helped in terms of becoming more aware of the amount of salt in foods.
Sputnik: What advice would you give to the public to help them monitor their salt intake?
Mel Wakeman: It’s being mindful that the more ready meals and convenience foods that we might have are very likely high in salt.
It’s looking at going back to scratch sand cooking more food ourselves, and to cut down the amount of salt in our meals, then we can use more dried herbs and other ways to add flavour, which is what salt, is doing enhancing the flavours in our foods.
We can also learn to cook foods in different ways to enhance the flavour so we don’t need to add salt into the foods when cooking.
Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Mel Wakeman and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
