High blood pressure is also known as hypertension. When it comes to diet, the golden rule for lower blood pressure is cutting down on salt. The sodium in the basic household ingredient can lead to this condition. But the salt you add to your foods might not be the main problem as this seasoning is often hidden in foods you buy from the store.
High blood pressure is often described as the “silent” condition as it can be in your body without you knowing.
Characterised by a lack of symptoms, hypertension can cause heart problems and strokes.
Both of these conditions are serious, causing almost 200,000 deaths yearly.
To tackle and prevent high blood pressure, keeping your salt intake low is crucial, the NHS explains.
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The health body shares that “the more salt you eat, the higher your blood pressure” will be.
However, keeping the salt shaker locked in a kitchen cupboard might not be enough as a new survey reveals the saltiest products from British supermarkets.
Campaigners from Action on Salt looked at hundreds of different meats from popular British retailers.
They found that a quarter of all sliced meats in UK supermarkets are saltier than seawater.
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According to the NHS, adults shouldn’t exceed more than six grams of salt in their daily intake.
When you compare this to the sea, the Atlantic Ocean contains less than half of the prosciutto’s salt content per 100 grams.
Another type of ham included almost a third of the advised daily salt amount in a singular serving size.
In total, a quarter of the 555 analysed meats had at least 2.5 grams of salt per 100 grams.
Moreover, two-thirds of these products were classed as dangerously high in salt.
These findings mean that consuming only a few slices of some products could meet the recommended six grams a day.
Currently, salt reduction targets set by the Government state that ham should have no more than 1.63 grams of salt per 100 grams.
These targets were set for the food industry to aspire to by 2024.
The NHS advises to eat less than six grams to keep blood pressure levels in check.
