Hidden salt

Salt performs important functions in many foods. Without it, bread wouldn’t rise as well or develop the right texture … pickled gherkins wouldn’t stay crisp … cured meats such as bacon and ham wouldn’t be preserved.

But modern diets mean we’re eating more and more processed foods – and the “hidden” salt they contain is what’s sending our salt intake soaring. As much as 75 percent of the salt we eat comes from processed foods. What’s added during cooking or at the table isn’t the main problem: it adds only another 15 percent. The rest is naturally present in foods.

There are some obvious culprits: a wider range of cured products such as salami and smoked salmon, sauces such as soy and chilli, chutneys, takeaway foods. And then there are the less obvious sources ... like breakfast cereals and breads.

According to the New Zealand Food Safety Authority’s 2003/04 Total Diet Survey, our average daily sodium intake for all groups – except women over 25 – exceeded the ministry’s maximum limits. For men aged 19 to 24, sodium intake was 157 percent more than the adult recommended maximum limit.

New information on how much sodium we’re eating will be available when the results of the next Total Diet Survey are released this year.

Positive steps

The salt content of bread – and bread accounts for around 15 to 27 percent of all the sodium we consume – has fallen by as much as 20 percent in some breads through an industry-wide initiative led by the Heart Foundation.

The cereal and processed-meat industries are next in line for a salt reduction, extending the work already underway by some manufacturers.