Salt

By making some small changes to your diet you can reduce the amount of salt you eat without losing the flavour of the food. But it’s not just about the salt we add to our food - unfortunately, salt is hidden in many of the foods we eat. Three quarters of our salt consumption comes from manufactured and pre-prepared foods. Food such as chips, bread and breakfast cereals, canned and packet soups and processed foods are all high in salt.

Salt often appears as sodium on the nutrition panel on food labels. Adults should eat less than 2300mg of sodium per day, which is equivalent to about one teaspoon of salt.

How can I reduce the salt in my diet?

Cutting back on salty foods and being aware of how much salt you eat will help you stay healthy.

Try some of these options:

• Check the nutritional information on food labels and try to pick low-sodium options
• Add less salt when cooking – try seasoning food with pepper, garlic, herbs and spices
• Swap salty snacks (like chips and salted nuts) for unsalted nuts or low-salt crackers.

Remember you can learn to adjust to less salt in your diet, but it takes time – sometimes about six to eight weeks to get used to it.