Reduce your salt intake

11:58 09 March 2011

Salt is found in lots of every day foods and eating too much of it can be bad for your health.

Too much salt has been linked to high blood pressure and cancer and it can also aggravate asthma and osteoporosis.

We do need salt in our diets; adults should be eating a maximum of 6g per day and the recommended amount for children is between 2g and 6g.

It can be hard to avoid salt in your diet as it's often hidden in ready-prepared foods, but we've got some tips to help you reduce your salt intake and get you feeling healthier.

1. Lots of everyday products have a high salt content, including many ready meals and some tinned foods. Try to cook from scratch and limit the amount of seasoning you add to your food when cooking
2. Read food labels; 1.25g of salt is quite a high amount, while 0.25g is fine
3. Use herbs, garlic, spices, pepper or lemon juice instead of salt to flavour food
4. If you have to use canned foods, rinse them before cooking
5. If you go to the cinema, go for sweet popcorn as opposed to salted
6. Swap salty snacks such as crisps and salted nuts with fruit and vegetables instead
7. Watch out for soy and jerk sauces - they can be sources of hidden salt
8. If you eat out, go for vegetable and chicken toppings on pizzas instead of bacon or extra cheese, tomato-based sauces, plain rice instead of pilau or egg fried rice and dressing on the side with your salad
9. If you are going to have crackers or crisps, go for a lower salt option