Salt - Eat No More than 6g a Day
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Too much salt is bad for your heart, can raise your blood pressure and damage your body. You should eat no more than 6g a day.
6g of salt is about a teaspoonful - not a large amount, especially when you consider that 75% of the salt we eat is already in everyday foods.
Is Your Food Full of It?
To know if a food is high in salt, read the label and look at the figure for salt per 100g. High is more than 1.5g salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium). Low is 0.3g salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium).
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) campaign Salt - Is Your Food Full of It? has a special website highlighting the dangers of salt and the benefits of cutting down. You can find out about:
Understanding salt on food labels
Hidden salt, cooking without salt, myths about salt
Salt and your health - blood pressure, heart disease, stroke
Benefits of less salt and healthy eating
Answers to common questions about salt
Salt Calculator - work out how much salt is in the food you buy
TV Adverts and Downloads
On the FSA Salt website you can also view Is Your Food Full of It? TV adverts, and download or order free leaflets - The Little Book of Salt and How to Look Out for Salt When You Are Shopping.
Watch out for the FSA Salt adverts on ITV, featuring comedian, TV presenter and writer Jenny Eclair.
The TV ads urge people to check if the food products they buy are ‘full of it’ and highlight that 75% of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy.
The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has also produced a free leaflet to download, view online or order free printed copies - Salt: The Facts.