Salt advice to parents will be hard to achieve
15th May, 2003
The Food Commission has warned that new government guidelines for reducing children’s salt consumption will be difficult for most parents to achieve without a significant reduction of salt in processed foods, and better food labelling.
The new salt guidelines will be issued on 15th May, by the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). As the SACN report notes: “High blood pressure is common in the UK. It is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and premature death. Reducing the average salt intake of the population is likely to decrease the burden of high blood pressure and improve public health.”
The SACN report Salt and Health is the result of a systematic review of the scientific evidence of the effects of salt on health. It identifies the main sources of salt in people’s diets and, for the first time, sets target daily intake levels for children.
The Food Commission welcomed the Food Standards Agency’s advice to parents but warned that the food industry has strongly opposed and obstructed all previous attempts by government to set limits on salt consumption.
“A reduction in salt consumption is vital for the nation’s health” said Annie Seeley, nutritionist for the Food Commission, “but we must see a genuine commitment from the food industry to reduce levels of salt in processed foods if we are to make any significant impact on diet-related stroke and heart disease in the UK.”
A list of salty children’s food products is included below, along with examples of how children’s salt intake builds up during the day. The SACN report Salt and Health can be found on: http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/saltandhealth0503.pdf
How to calculate the salt content of your food
Food Commission surveys have shown that most food labels do not show how much salt is in a product, meaning that you cannot work out the salt content. When the information is given, it is often listed as ‘sodium’, which must be multiplied by 2.5 to give the amount of salt.
Some manufacturers (such as Marks & Spencers and the Co-op) now list the ‘salt equivalent’ and relate this to guideline daily intakes for adults, making it easier for shoppers to make healthier choices.
The 'target intakes' of grams of salt per day, which we should all aim to keep below, are as follows:
0-12 mths - less than 1 gram of salt
7-12 mths - 1 gram of salt
1-3 yrs - 2 grams of salt
4-6 yrs - 3 grams of salt
7-10 yrs - 5 grams of salt
11 yrs and over - 6 grams of salt
Most people don’t realise that they are eating high levels of salt in everyday foods such as bread, breakfast cereals and pastry products, yet up to 70% of their salt intake comes from processed food.
Many children's breakfast cereals are still high in salt, as reported in the latest Food Magazine. Click on the link below to view a PDF version of the article which highlights the high salt content of many Nestlé children's cereals. Click here for the PDF
Some of the saltiest children’s foods |
|||
Manufacturer |
Food
|
Grams of salt per portion |
Grams of salt per 100g |
Golden Vale Cheese Company |
Cheestrings Attack-a-Snack cheesetring and chicken wrap. Update September 2004: Since this survey was published manufacturer Golden Vale Food Products have informed us that the salt content of Cheestrings Attack-a-Snack (chicken wrap) has been reduced to a level of 0.7g of sodium (equivalent to 1.75g of salt) per portion, with a further reduction promised. |
4g
|
3.75g |
Dailycer Ltd |
Thomas the Tank Engine and friends shaped cereal (recommended 30g serving with 125 ml of semi-skimmed milk) |
0.5g
|
1.0g |
HP |
HP Barney pasta shapes in tomato sauce portion (213g)
|
2.75g
|
1.25g |
Marks and Spencers |
Tweenies Meal for One containing: 4 Doodles and bones shaped chicken nuggets with chips, tomato ketchup and strawberry flavour yoghurt
|
1.1g
|
0.4g |
Kelloggs |
Coco Pops: (recommended 30g serving with 125 ml of semi-skimmed milk)
|
0.5g
|
1.25g |
Walkers |
Walkers Square Potato Snacks salt and vinegar Flavour 25g bag
|
1.25g
|
5.25g |
Dairylea |
Dairylea Lunchable Yummy Ham Stack’ems
|
2.75g
|
2.5g |
Sun Valley |
Chicken Teddy Bears x2
|
1.4g
|
1.3g |
Heinz |
Teletubbies pasta shapes in tomato sauce (205g can)
|
2g
|
1g |
Nestlé |
Shreddies (recommended portion 45g with 125 ml semi-skimmed milk)
|
0.75g
|
1.25g |
KP Snacks |
Prawn and Cocktail flavour Skips
|
0.75g
|
3.75g |
Iceland |
Kids Crew cheese and tomato flavour pizza
|
1.10g
|
1.3g |
Heinz |
Baked beans (suggested serving on can 207g)
|
2g
|
1g |
Dairylea |
Dairylea Strip Cheese
|
0.75g
|
3.25g |
Marks and Spencers |
Chicken and vegetable casserole (part of their kids range)
|
0.9g
|
0.4g |
Walkers |
Monster Munch
|
0.75g
|
3.25g |
Walkers |
Wotsits
|
0.5g
|
2.5g |
Aunt Bessie’s |
Tidgy Toads (mini pork sausages in crispy Yorkshire pudding)
|
0.5g
|
1.25g |
Heinz |
Eazy Squirt ketchup (serving = 10ml)
|
0.25
|
3g |
The following pages may also be of interest
- Press:Salt advice to parents will be hard to achieve
The Food Commission warns that government guidelines for reducing children’s salt consumption will be difficult for parents to achieve without a significant reduction of salt in processed foods, and better food labelling.