Brits eat equivalent of 22 packs of crisps in salt a day, new study reveals
Adults in the UK consume shockingly high levels of salt, according to a major new analysis from the British Heart Foundation; This is equivalent to 22 bags of chips every day.
The charity found that the average adult eats as much salt as 155 packets of ready-made salty crisps over the course of a week; This reveals how much the country’s diet still exceeds healthy limits.
On average, adults in the UK consume 8.4 grams of salt per day; That’s about 40 percent more than the government’s recommended maximum of 6 grams. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) said this daily excess is roughly equivalent to the salt found in six extra bags of crisps.
Most importantly, the problem is not overuse of salinity. Instead, experts warn that most of the salt is hidden in everyday foods that people wouldn’t normally associate with being salty.
Dell Stanford, senior dietician at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Most of the salt we eat is hidden in the foods we buy, such as bread, cereals, ready-made sauces and ready-made meals, so it’s difficult to know how much salt we’re consuming.”
“This is bad news for our heart health because consuming too much salt significantly increases the risk of high blood pressure, a major cause of heart attacks, strokes and other serious diseases.”
High salt intake causes the body to retain fluid, raising blood pressure and placing extra strain on blood vessels and the heart. Hypertension is the biggest risk factor for heart attack and stroke, but around three in 10 adults in the UK have high blood pressure and an estimated five million people are unaware of the condition.
The BHF estimates that excessive salt consumption causes at least 5,000 deaths a year in the UK from heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular conditions.
Campaigners say voluntary targets for food producers have failed and are calling for stronger government intervention.
Stanford said: “The government should step in to make the healthy choice much easier for families by giving producers an incentive to remove excessive amounts of salt from our food.”
Sonia Pombo, head of impact and research at Action on Salt, added: “Reducing salt is one of the simplest, most cost-effective actions any government can take to improve population health. The vast majority of salt in our diet comes from the food we buy, not from what we add to the table.”
It called for legally binding salt reduction targets, clear penalties for non-compliance and mandatory front-of-pack labeling to help shoppers identify high-salt foods.
A Department of Health spokesman said the government had already taken action, citing restrictions on junk food advertising, limits on price promotions for high-salt foods and new mandatory reporting on sales of healthier food.
But health experts warn that unless tougher action is taken, Britons will continue to unknowingly consume the equivalent of dozens of packets of crisps every day – with devastating consequences for heart health.
