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In this advert (published in a newspaper in 2003), a breakfast cereal company showed a photo of one of its products, and says: "You'd never add salt. Neither would we." Customers had become very concerned about the salt in breakfast cereals. Doctors reported that cereals were a significant source of excess salt in a lot of people's diets, leading to health problems. That's why this cereal company thought it would be a good idea to reassure customers that its wholewheat cereal is low in salt, with no salt added. However, that's not the whole story. At the same time as it boasted of the low salt content of the wholewheat cereal, the same company sold lots and lots of other types of breakfast cereal. It's true that the company never added salt to the wholewheat cereal, but the company did add salt to lots of other breakfast cereals - especially cereals aimed at children and young people.
Some foods are naturally salty
When you add cheese to your food, you may not realise it, but you also add salt - because cheese has a lot of salt in it. Lots of foods are high in salt. That's why it's good to choose 'low salt' foods when you can, and cut back on salty snacks.
Salt helps to sell more drinks
Why did they show a peanut? Because of the granules of salt surrounding it. When people eat salty snacks, they feel thirsty. So it's no coincidence that
places like cinemas sell salty snacks right next to mega-cups of cola
and other drinks. Salt makes you dehydrated
Everyone knows that salt is bad for slugs. But not everyone knows that too much salt is bad for humans too. It would be hard to eat enough
salt to dehydrate yourself, but it is surprisingly easy to eat more salt
than is healthy. You won't shrivel up like a salted slug, but you might
eventually end up with high blood pressure, heart disease or stroke. Salt adds up during the day
There's salt in bread and in the margarine, and also in some savoury spreads like Marmite or peanut butter. You can't see it, but it's there. Just take a look at the ingredients list on the food packets. Bit by bit, salt
adds up during the day. One way to eat less salt is to cut back on especially
salty food. Another way is to choose foods described as 'low salt'.
Because people want to cut back on salt, food companies make salt-free products and reduced salt products. But it still pays to check the label. These crisps
were found in a survey in 2004. They claimed to be 'lightly salted' but
actually contained MORE salt than some other regular ready-salted crisps!
'Lightly salted' is not the same as 'low salt'. By law, products described
as 'low salt' must be genuinely low in salt, using an agreed definition. Meat pies can be a rich source of salt
One of the biggest surveys is the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. It shows that people eat most of their salt in a 'hidden' form - they may not be aware of how much they're eating. The hidden salt often comes in high doses in everyday foods such as bread, cereals and meat products, such as pies, pasties and curries. It's okay to eat some salt, but if you add extra salt, and also snack on salty products in between, you can quickly go over your limit. A lot of people in the UK are eating over twice the amount that is good for them.
Roman soldiers were paid in salt Throughout history, people have valued salt for its flavour and because it helps stop food from rotting. Salt
used to be considered so valuable that hundreds of years ago, Roman soldiers
were sometimes paid in salt - which is where the word 'salary' comes from.
Click here to download activity sheets on the subject of fat, salt and sugar.
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There's
probably salt in your breakfast cereal
This
peanut appeared in a job advert for one of the biggest soft drinks companies
in the world, offering someone a salary of £40,000 a year to increase
cola sales. The job advert appeared in a trade magazine in 2004.
If
gardeners want to kill slugs, they can pour salt on them. The salt sucks
all of the water out of the slugs - it dehydrates them.
Toast
is a healthy breakfast. But watch out! You may not have guessed it, but
you could be eating a lot of salt. Two slices of toast made with white
bread, spread with margarine and savoury spread contains 1.8 grams of
salt. 
Lightly
salted' can still mean high salt!
When
health experts want to find out what advice to give people about their
food, they first ask people what they already eat. There are some national
surveys that take place regularly, to keep a track of what everyone in
the UK is eating. 
