How much salt should you eat every day?
It’s a question that stumped 80% of British adults – and there are a number of supermarket staples that could put you over the limit before you’ve even finished lunch.
Just 19% of people surveyed by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) accurately said 6g per day was the maximum recommended by the government.
Adults in the UK eat 8.4g of salt a day on average, containing 3.3g of sodium.
The survey findings come as separate research revealed some takeaway pizzas have three days’ worth of salt in a single pizza.
Two thirds of pizzas sold in restaurants and takeaways contained 6g or more salt per pizza, according to the Action on Salt group.
While supermarket pizzas fared better, some still contained more than a day’s worth of salt.
Eating too much sodium can lead to health problems including high blood pressure, which can be linked to half of all heart attacks and strokes in the UK, according to the BHF.
You might not be shocked a cheese-slathered takeaway often topped with cured meat and olives comes out high in the salt charts.
But other supermarket staples may surprise you with their salt levels.
Bread
Three quarters of supermarket bread has as much salt per slice as a packet of ready salted crisps.
Action on Salt looked at 242 store-bought loaves of sliced bread and found three in four had at least 0.34g – the amount in a bag of crisps.
Pesto
The Italians say you should cook pasta in water as salty as the sea – but what about the sauce?
Some pesto sauces are actually saltier than the sea.
While Atlantic seawater has the equivalent of 2.5g of salt per 100g, Sacla’s classic basil pesto has 3g and Filipo Berio’s version has 2.7g.
Sauces
From stir fry sauces to ketchup and marinades, some sauces hide high levels of salt.
But the amount of salt varies widely – which goes to show you can make a good tasting sauce while dialling back the sodium, according to Action on Salt.
The saltiest sauce surveyed was Blue Dragon fish sauce, with 26.7g of salt per 100g. That means one tablespoon would provide 4g of salt – two thirds of an adult’s maximum recommended daily intake.
Nando’s medium peri-peri sauce clocked 6g of salt per 100g while Kikkoman teriyaki marinade had 10.2g and Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce had 11.5g.
Breakfast cereal
You might be on the lookout for added sugar in your morning bowl of cereal – but what about salt?
A 2021 survey by Action on Salt found more than half of breakfast cereals targeted at children contain at least a “medium” amount of salt.
Malt O Meal Marshmallow Mateys came out on top with 0.51g of salt per serving – more than the 0.34g in a bag of ready salted crisps.
Kellogg’s Froot Loops, Corn Flakes, Krave cereals and Rice Krispies all have 0.3g of salt or more per serving.
Sweet treats
Biscuits, pastries and cakes might not strike you immediately as high sodium culprits – but research by the BHF shows 4% of the salt in our diet comes from sweet foods.
Biscuits can be saltier than popcorn, with McVities digestives clocking 1.3g of salt per 100g while Butterkist salted popcorn sits at 1.1g.
Paracetamol
Not even the medicine aisle is safe from salt.
Soluble paracetamol contains sodium – enough that if a person took the maximum daily dose they would exceed the World Health Organisation’s 2g recommended maximum.
