Adults in England Eat the same amount of salt as 155 packets of crisps each week, according to analysis by a leading health charity.
The British Heart Foundation, which carried out the study, said this would also equate to 22 packets a day of ready-salted, lightly salted or sea salt crisps.
“Much of the salt we eat is hidden in the foods we buy, such as bread, cereals, prepared sauces and ready meals, so it is difficult to know how much salt we are consuming,” said Dell Stanford, senior nutritionist at the BHF.
“This is bad news for our heart health, since eating too much salt significantly increases the risk of high blood pressure, a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes and other serious diseases.”
It is estimated that eating dangerously high amounts of salt is responsible for at least 5,000 deaths a year in the UK from heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases.
Too much salt is dangerous to your health because it may increase blood pressurewhich is the leading cause of heart attacks and strokes. Three in 10 adults in the UK are thought to have hypertension – high blood pressure – but an estimated 5 million don't know they have it.
Health campaigners said the results should prompt ministers to take tough action to reduce the amount of salt in food, including limits on the amount of salt and fines to enforce compliance.
Adults in England consume an average of 8.4g of salt a day, 40% more than the government's recommended maximum of 6g. The difference was equivalent to the salt in six bags of crisps, according to the BHF. A 32-40g bag of salted crisps typically contains 0.38g of salt.
“The government must step in to make healthy choices much easier for families by giving manufacturers an incentive to remove excessive amounts of salt from our foods,” Stanford said.
Sonia Pombo, head of impact and research at campaign group Salt Action, said: “Reducing salt intake is one of the simplest and most cost-effective actions any government can take to improve public health.
“This requires minimal change in consumer behavior, since the vast majority of salt in our diets comes from the food we buy, not what we put on the table. This means the most effective action must focus on the food industry.”
“We need legally binding salt reduction targets across all food categories, with clear deadlines and consequences for non-compliance, as well as fiscal levers such as levies on foods above maximum salt thresholds.”
Mandatory front-of-pack labeling would also help consumers clearly identify high-salt foods, she said.
The Ministry of Health said it was cracking down on junk food. The spokesman added: “The Government is taking decisive action to tackle health problems caused by poor diets as part of our 10-year health plan, which will shift the focus from disease to prevention.
“We are limiting advertising of unhealthy foods on TV and online, capping wholesale prices on less healthy foods, including those high in salt, and introducing mandatory reporting of sales of healthier foods.”
