Salt and Your Health
Charity Registration No. 1098818
Learning Objectives
 To learn what salt is and what foods it is found in
 To learn what effect salt can have on your health
 To learn how you can reduce your own salt intake
Charity Registration No. 1098818
Who are CASH?
A group of scientists and
nutritionists who want the
Government and food
industry to take action to
reduce salt intake
CASH stands for Consensus
Action on Salt and Health
Charity Registration No. 1098818
Thinking caps on…
What is salt?
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Salt vs. Sodium
• Salt is sodium chloride (NaCl)
• Sodium is an element which occurs
naturally and is used by the body
• 1 g of sodium = 2.5g of salt
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Salt: A History
• The word salt comes from the word
‘salarium’ in latin (salary)
• This is because roman soldiers used to be
partly paid in salt
Charity Registration No. 1098818
Image: FSA http://tna.europarchive.org/20090810121540/salt.gov.uk/hidden_salt.html
Salt: A History
Salt was once needed
as a preservative to
make food last longer
– we call this
increasing “shelf life”
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Image: freedigitalphotos.net
Salt: A History
We now have
fridges, freezers
and cans to make
food last a long time
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Image: Carlos Porto / freedigitalimages.net
Where Is Salt Found?
• Now the people who make our food add too much!
• 75% of the salt you eat is already in the food you buy…
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Salt: A History
Salt can also add
flavour to food
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Image: Carolos Porto/freedigitalphotos.net
Salt: A History
But there are much
nicer and healthier
sources of flavours
such as herbs and
spices…
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Image: freedigitalphotos.net
How much?
• If you are 11 years + you
should have no more than
6g salt per day
• That’s just one teaspoon’s
worth!
• Younger children should
have even less
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How much?
SACN population maximum salt targets
for adults and children
Age
Maximum salt intake
0-6 months
Less than 1 gram
7-12 months
1 gram
1-3 years
2 gram
4-6 years
3 gram
7-10 years
5 gram
11-14 years
6 gram
Adults
6 gram
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Too Much Salt
•Eating too much salt is bad for your health
•This is because it can raise your blood
pressure
•High blood pressure can harm your health
by causing stroke and heart attacks
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Image: Renjith Krishnan / freedigitalphotos.net
Blood Pressure
•Blood pressure begins to rise when you
are a child
•The higher your blood pressure is as a
child the higher it will be as an adult
•Eating less salt is the
best way to prevent high
blood pressure when you
are older
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Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Other Effects
Stomach
Cancer
Osteoporosis
Stroke
Obesity
Kidney
Disease
Heart
Attacks
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Is your food full of it?
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Thinking caps on…
What foods
did you see
in the video?
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Activity
Which foods contain added salt?
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Image: Paul/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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Image: zmkstudio/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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Image: Stuart Eman/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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Image: Graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Charity Registration No. 1098818
Image: Paul/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Charity Registration No. 1098818
Image: Paul/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Charity Registration No. 1098818
Charity Registration No. 1098818
Image: Stuat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Food Labels
• Most food in your cupboards at home will
have a food label
• These tell you what is in your food
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Image: FSA http://tna.europarchive.org/20090810121540/salt.gov.uk/hidden_salt.html
Food Labels
Try reading the following labels.
- How much salt?
- What is the portion size?
- Is the salt high or low?
Charity Registration No. 1098818
Image: FSA http://tna.europarchive.org/20090810121540/salt.gov.uk/hidden_salt.html
Food Labels
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Food Labels
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Food Labels
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Food Labels
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Food Labels
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Food Labels
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Tonight…
• Go through your cupboards and see what
types of labelling you can find
• Bring in some examples and show your
teacher and class
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Thinking caps on…
What can
you do?
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What Can You Do?
• Limit the amount of high salt foods you eat
• Ask your parents not to add salt when cooking and
don’t add salt at the table
• Check labels and add up the salt that you would
have in a meal or over a day
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Simple Swaps
Swap
For
Ham or cheese
sandwich
Chicken, egg or
tuna sandwich
Plain
popcorn
Crisps
Dried
Fruit
Biscuits
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What have we learnt today?
 That salt is hidden in many of our favourite foods
 That eating to much salt can make us unhealthy
 That changing the amount of salt that we eat can be easy
Charity Registration No. 1098818
Charity Registration No. 1098818