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8:00 AM 31st March 2021
lifestyle

Heart Research UK Healthy Tip - Reducing Salt Intake

 
Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by Dr Helen Flaherty, Head of Health Promotion at Heart Research UK

Too much salt in our diets leads to high blood pressure, increasing the risk of a heart attack, heart failure and stroke. Excess sodium consumption increases the volume of your blood so that it takes up more space in your blood vessels. This expansion of blood vessels is what causes high blood pressure (hypertension).

The recommended maximum amount of salt intake is as follows:
Adults – 6g per day (about a teaspoon)
Children aged 1 to 3 years – 2g per day
Children aged 4 to 6 years – 3g per day
Children aged 7 to 10 years – 5g per day


So how can we reduce the amount of salt we consume? Here are a few healthy heart tips from Heart Research UK:

Staying hydrated

Sodium found in salt helps balance fluid in your body. When you eat too much salt, your body needs more fluids to help clear out your system so that your muscles and other organs can operate properly. That’s your body’s way of correcting the sodium-water ratio, and drinking water is the best way to return things back to normal.

Check the labels

Check the nutrition labels on the foods you buy. You can do this more easily by looking at the traffic light label on the front of the packaging. Try to choose foods which have a green traffic light symbol for the salt tab.

Cooking from scratch

The best way to know how much salt you’re eating is to cook homemade fresh foods. When cooking something like a Bolognese try not to buy a jar of ready-made sauce as it may be high in salt. Try cooking your own sauce using tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, Italian herbs and vegetables, such as peppers and mushrooms. Try to avoid ready-made meals, takeaways and restaurant food as these tend to have a high salt content and sometimes there’s no way of knowing how much is in each meal.

Creating tasty foods

Instead of adding salt when cooking try experimenting with new flavours such as fresh or dried herbs, garlic and chillies, or acids like lemon juice and vinegar.

Heart Research UK
Proud to stand out from the crowd, Heart Research UK is the charity dedicated to your heart. They inspire and invest in pioneering medical research, ground-breaking training and education, and in communities to improve their heart health for themselves. For over 50 years they have driven advancements in the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease to benefit patients as soon as possible.


You can find more healthy tips, recipes and advice at heartresearch.org.uk.