FOOD TIP: Drop the Salt!

It’s time for Australians to Drop the Salt! Currently, Australian’s consume well over the recommended of 1600mg. Growing scientific evidence is showing that salt is causing too many health problems. Some of these health problems include high blood pressure, asthma, osteoporosis, stroke, heart attack and congestive heart failure.

May 15th sees the launch of the Drop the Salt! Campaign which has been initiated by AWASH (Australian Division on World Action on Salt & Health). This 5 year long campaign will unite health professionals, food industry, government, scientists and consumer organisations in a commitment to reduce the Australian population’s salt intake.

Drop the Salt! will incorporate the key elements for tackling dietary salt reduction into its main strategies of:
1. Reducing the salt added in for production.
2. Improving information on salt levels for consumers.
3. Raising awareness of the health issues.

You too can play your own part in this campaign! All you have to do is look at your own food choices. Do you choose lots of fresh foods such as fruit, vegetables, fish, dairy products and meat? If you don’t, it’s time to start! Not only should these foods be the basis of all your meals, but they are all naturally low in salt.

Some other handy hints for making tasty meals minus the huge amounts of salt include:

• Use herbs, spices, vinegars and acid flavours such as lemon juice, to increase the flavour of your meals.
• Limit the amount of preserved food you eat as these contain large amounts of salt. Preserved foods include bacon, ham, corned beef, olives and anchovies.
• Select “Low Salt”, “Reduced Salt” or “No Added Salt” products. However “Reduced Salt” products can still be high in salt. For example, Reduced Salt Asian Sauces contain 3000mg/100g of sauce compared to the regular product that contains 6000-9000mg/100g. Compare this to a “Low Salt” product which contains less than 120mg/100g of food. That’s a big difference!
• Don’t forget that stock cubes and powders contain salt. At present there are no low salt stock cubes available, but there are powders available.
• Avoid adding salt during cooking and at the table.