It is important to be aware of how much salt you eat, as too much can increase your blood pressure and risk of other health problems
In Scotland, many of us eat more salt than is recommended. Around 75% of the salt we eat comes from packaged foods like bread, breakfast cereal and ready meals.
It can also be easy to have too much salt when eating out, as takeaways, fast food and restaurant meals can often be high in salt. For tips on reducing your salt intake when eating out, you can visit our pages on making healthy choices.
Too much salt can raise blood pressure and increase the risk of developing heart disease or stroke.
Adults should have no more than 6g of salt per day – roughly the same as 1 teaspoon.
Babies and children under 11 should have less salt than adults. The amount per day depends on age:
Restricting salt when children are little can mean they won’t develop as much of a taste for salt as they grow up.
Some foods are naturally high in salt because of the way they’re made. You can still enjoy these as part of a healthy balanced diet but try to eat them less often and in smaller amounts. Foods that are naturally high in salt include:
Depending on the brand or recipe these foods are sometimes high in salt:
Check the food label and choose the lower-salt options.
Checking labels and choosing low-salt versions of food is one of the easiest ways to cut down on salt. That’s because most of the salt we eat is already in our food rather than added at the table or to cooking.
Salt is made of sodium and chloride – it’s also called sodium chloride. It’s the sodium that can damage our health. The amount of sodium in the product is usually included on the label as well as the total amount of salt. If the label only gives the amount of sodium, all you have to do is multiply the amount of sodium by 2.5 to work out how much salt is in the product.
Salt = sodium x 2.5
Adults should eat no more than 2.4g of sodium per day – that’s equal to 6g of salt (2.4g of sodium x 2.5 = 6g).
