Be wary of the sodium content in your diet, particularly if certain snacks and even breakfast cereals are among your staple food.
For you may be at risk of a high dietary intake of salt, one of the most common - but preventable - factors in causing high blood pressure.
This warning was issued by the Consumer Council in the wake of a survey of a random sample of 73 food products comprising 22 crisps (mostly potato chips, prawn and rice crackers), 35 biscuits and 16 breakfast cereals.
The survey revealed that nearly 70% of these food products had a sodium content of a high level according to the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA).
As part of the salt reduction campaign to assist consumers to understand food labels and to make a healthier choice, the FSA has set a reference value guideline stipulating that any food product with 500mg or more of sodium per 100 g is considered to contain "a lot" of salt.
Consuming a lot of food products that contain "a lot" of salt may easily exceed the nutrient intake goal recommended by the World Health Organization in a 2003 report "Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Disease", which is 5 g of salt per day (about a tea-spoonful), or 2,000 mg of sodium.
Of the 73 food samples in the Council survey, 50 were found to contain "a lot" of salt. Even more seriously, 10 of them contained more than double that amount.
The survey showed that crisp samples with the highest amount of sodium could reach 1,300 mg per 100 g (or 390 mg per serving of 30 g); biscuits 1,390 mg (or 487 mg per serving of 35 g); and breakfast cereals 1,961 mg (or 608 mg per serving of 31 g).
So, if an adult habitually consumes one serving of each of these food products a day, the sodium intake would amount to 1,485 mg, which is already 74% of the daily recommended intake of 2,000 mg.
Taking into account the amount of sodium from other dietary sources (e.g. beverages, regular meals), a person may be at real risk of an excessive intake of sodium.
Consumers are therefore advised to
- read nutrition label of food products and choose those that contain less salt;
- pay attention to the amount of food that you eat with high salt content;
- use less salt in cooking;
Besides salt, other factors that increase the risk of high blood pressure include: smoking, overweight, lack of exercise, excessive alcohol consumption. High blood pressure could increase the risk of developing heart failure, coronary heart disease, stroke, and renal failure.
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