We all need a little bit of salt because it helps keep your body fluids at the right concentration. However, the majority of us eat more salt than we need. If you eat too much salt, your volume of body fluids increases and pushes up your blood pressure. High blood pressure can lead to serious problems such as heart disease or stroke.

As salt is often a “hidden” ingredient in many foods, it can sometimes be difficult to work out how much you are eating. Some foods, such as crisps, olives and bacon, taste obviously salty and can easily be removed from your diet if you are trying to cut down.

However, 75% of the salt we eat comes from ready-made foods, such as bread, cereals and baked beans. Even sweet things, such as biscuits, have salt added to them.

To keep track of your salt intake, get into the habit of reading the nutritional information on food labels, where you will find the salt (sodium) content for a 100g serving. As a rough guide:

• a high amount of salt is more than 1.5g for 100g (0.6g sodium)
• a low amount of salt is 0.3g for 100g (0.1g sodium)

Read more about How much salt is good for you

Article source: http://www.nhs.uk/

Image courtesy: http://www.thegoodcalorie.com/