What's the big deal?

Imagine drinking a mouthful of seawater… not very nice! But some foods like soups, bacon and bread are just as salty! One cup of instant soup can have the same amount of salt as two cups of seawater.

Salt isn’t all bad—we do need it to survive. But the amounts we need to keep us healthy are tiny compared to what we normally eat. Adults should eat no more than 6g salt (or 2.4g sodium) a day. But research shows that most of us actually eat around 9g salt or more each day.

The problem with salt is that eating too much of it can raise your blood pressure. High blood pressure is a leading cause of stroke and heart disease, which account for one in three deaths.

Eighty per cent of the salt we eat is hidden in processed foods:

• The average muffin contains almost 10% of your daily recommended salt intake
• Two slices of white bread contain almost 15% of your daily recommended salt intake
• One rasher of bacon contains 20% of your daily recommended salt intake
• Half a tin of soup contains almost 37% of your daily recommended salt intake

Look after your health by choosing low-salt options

Getting the whole family to cut down on salt isn’t as hard as you might think. So make small changes to the way you eat – and make a big difference to your health!

Try using freshly ground pepper instead of salt.

Choose fresh meat, fish, fruit and vegetables over processed foods whenever possible.

Choose foods which have been flavoured with herbs and spices. They add lots of flavour to food so you shouldn’t need to add any salt.

Cut down on the amount of salty meats you choose such as bacon, gammon and ham.

Always taste your food first before you add salt – food often contains more than enough salt.

Sauces and dressings often contain lots of salt so ask for them to be served on the side, then you can control how much you wish to use.

New research on salt levels in soup in catering establishments on the island of Ireland

Latest research on the dietary salt intake of the Irish population

Even if you stopped adding salt to your food at the table, you could still be eating far too much of it each day. Find out more about which foods are high and low in salt.

Click here for more tips about how to cut down on the salt in your diet - at home, when shopping, and when you're eating out.

Calculate how much salt you eat

How to use the salt calculator

• Look at the nutrition label and find the amount of sodium in 100g.
• Work out how much of the food you are going to eat and then enter that amount (in grams).
• Click on the “calculate” button to see how much salt is in the serving and what percentage this is of your daily recommended allowance.