The message about too much salt being bad for us seems to be getting through. However, even if you are cutting back on the amount of salt you add to your food, you may be consuming more than you realise because it has already been added to what you’re eating – it’s often in the most unlikely of foods.

Let’s face it – salt tastes good. It can make the difference between food being bland or being delicious.

Like most things that tempt your tastebuds, too much salt is bad for you. Medical experts have been telling us for years to cut back and some of us have been doing that by being careful about how much we sprinkle on our meals.

However, salt is added to many foods long before they get to the dining table and we may not realise what we’re eating already contains lots of sodium chloride.

As a result, we can end up eating far more than is good for us. High levels can cause high blood pressure, which in turn can lead to heart attacks and strokes. Now the Stroke Foundation of New Zealand wants the Government to set limits on how much salt can be added to processed foods.

Setting a legal limit would save lives, says Stroke Foundation CEO Mark Vivian. He says most Kiwis consume an average of 9g of salt a day, which is around 3.6g of sodium. “This intake needs to be reduced by at least 50% to meet recommendations from the World Health Organisation.”

About 85% of the salt we eat is contained in the foods we buy, making it difficult for us to try to reduce our salt intake.

WHY DO WE NEED SALT AT ALL?

Salt – or at least the sodium it contains – is vital for good health. Our bodies need sodium to perform a variety of tasks.

These include:

Maintaining fluid in blood cells so that oxygen and nutrients can be transported around the body.

Transmitting information in our nerves and muscles, and signals to and from the brain.

Obtaining certain nutrients from the small intestines.

Helping muscles – including the heart – to contract.

If you don’t eat enough salt, your muscles will be weak, you’ll suffer muscular cramps and, in extreme situations, salt deprivation can be fatal. So sodium is an important mineral and because bodies cannot make it, we have to get it from food.

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU EAT TOO MUCH SALT?

As well as raising blood pressure and increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes, too much sodium is also thought to be associated with:

Heartburn

Osteoporosis

Stomach cancer

Gastric and duodenal ulcers

Fluid retention

WHERE DO WE GET SALT IN OUR DIET?

Only about 15% of the salt in the average Kiwi’s diet comes from adding salt during cooking or at the table.

“Most salt comes from processed foods, breads and canned goods,” explains Mark. “Just one cup of canned soup can contain more than 50% of your recommended daily sodium intake.”

We often don’t realise there’s salt in processed foods because we can’t always taste it. That’s because it’s not just used for taste – it’s added to many foods as a preservative and for texture.

For example, you may not think of cereal as being salty but some brands of cornflakes may contain around three teaspoons of salt in a 300g packet.

If you stop having so much salt, your tastebuds adjust over time and you get used to unsalted food. Meanwhile, your sensitivity to salt will increase – you’re likely to find many foods far too salty. You will also taste flavours in unsalted foods that you may not have noticed before. Reducing your dietary intake of salt by just 5% is a start, says Dr Harry McNaughton, medical advisor to the Stroke Foundation. You won’t taste the difference and if you keep it up over a number of months, you may be able tolower your blood pressure dramatically.

WHAT CAN I DO TO CUT MY SALT INTAKE?

Resist adding salt to your food. Don’t put the salt shaker on the table.

Try to cut down on the amount of canned food you eat. This contains a lot of salt as it helps to preserve the food.

Only use small amounts of sauces, or avoid them altogether. Tomato sauce, for example, can be high in sodium.

Read the labels before you buy food products in the supermarket and ideally choose foods that contain less than 100mg of sodium per 100g.

The salt content of similar items can vary hugely. For example, among Kellogg’s cereals, Cornflakes have

680mg of sodium per 100g, Special K has 536mg per 100g and Just Right has 30mg of sodium per 100g.

Choose low-salt or salt-free versions of ready-made foods.

Cut down on the amount of processed meats you eat, such as ham, bacon and salami.

WHAT ABOUT IODINE AND SALT?

Because New Zealand soils are low in the essential mineral iodine, it has been added to our table salt since the 1920s. Iodine is needed to help the thyroid gland control our growth and development, and too little iodine in your diet can lead to a condition called goitre. Babies born to mums with an iodine deficiency can suffer from impaired intellectual development, stunted growth and hearing loss.

In the last decade, an increase in iodine deficiency has been noticed for the first time in many years, possibly due in part to that fact that sea salt – which does not contain iodine – has become popular, and we’re using less iodised table salt because we’re heeding warnings to cut down on salt.

As of September last year, iodised salt has been added to bread. Most other processed foods contain non-iodised salt. If you are going to salt your food, the Ministry of Health recommends choosing iodised salt rather than plain salt or sea salt, but not increasing your overall salt intake. Dietary sources of iodine include fish, shellfish, seaweed and eggs.