Salt Awareness Week

Salt Awareness Week 2010 kicks off on Monday. It is run in the UK by CASH - expect to see items in the news about sodium and health.

Getting Help and Advice - the BPA

Just wanted to highlight the great work by Fiona and Liz, the Blood pressure Association nurses who are there to answer questions about BP on the BPA Forum. If you have a question about any aspect of hypertension, lifestyle or diet that's the place to go.

They have a helpline too, the number is 0845 241 0989 and it's open 11am-3pm, Monday to Friday.

News Roundup from CASH and the BPA

While I've been offline, CASH have of course been continuing their excellent work (for which they've received an award from the Chief Medical Officer), highlighting the sodium levels in foods targetted at those on special diets (I have one of those nasty nut allergies, so a subject close to my heart).

Also, the Blood Pressure Association has confirmed what your gran always told you, that porridge is the best possible breakfast, and that there may be an explanation for how vegetables help to lower your BP. Know Your Numbers Week was last month, and a survey showed that black cab drivers throughout the country, like many of us, have high blood pressure, and don't know it.

Also in the news - I have heard that restaurants and retailers are continuing to lower their sodium levels. More on this soon...

Salt Awareness Week 2009 - 2nd to 8th February

Next week is CASH's annual Salt Awareness Week. Their website has lots of guidance, and information on recent research, and is well worth a visit.

Or why not take a look at my top ten tips for reducing your sodium intake? If you can only manage to take one step, the single easiest and most effective way to reduce your salt intake is to change your breakfast cereal.

Kids' Salt Intake

I have two kids so this is a subject close to my heart. Our youngest only moved onto solids after we had started our low sodium diet, but it is taking our 6 year old a while to adapt (she has only now decided that she will eat mummy's bread rather than shop-bought white sliced).

The recommended daily sodium intake for children is obviously lower than that for adults, you can find lots of good information and advice in this leaflet on the CASH website.

The main sources of salt in children's diets are as follows (from here):

40% from cereal & cereal products e.g. bread, breakfast cereals, 'morning goods'
21% from meat & meat products e.g. bacon & ham, burgers, sausages
9% from potatoes e.g. coated oven chips, croquettes
9% from milk & milk products e.g. yoghurts, cheese

The NaC-hell Retailer Award 2008

I'm going to make this an annual award - this year's focuses on the major UK retailers/supermarkets. I did a survey, to see which is the best place to shop for a low sodium diet. I got in touch with them all at the beginning of December, via email (except for Morrisons, for whom I used snail mail as there was no email address available).

	Please could you provide a listing of low sodium products?	Do you have a reduced sodium own brand ready meal range?	Do you have an initiative to reduce sodium in your products?	Do you have clear labelling?
Tesco	No response	Yes - Healthy Living	No response	No response
Asda	No	Yes	No	Yes
Sainsbury's	No	Yes, Super Naturals	Yes	Yes
Morrisons	No	No	No response	Yes
M&S	Yes	Yes - Eat Well	Yes	Yes
Waitrose	Yes	Yes - Perfectly Balanced	Yes	Yes

I must admit I was a little disappointed not to receive a response from Tesco, as the biggest retailer here. They do however have a decent website, and an online nutritionist. See here for their guidance on salt, and product labelling.

Asda also have a good website. See here for their guidance on salt and product labelling.

Sainsbury's tell me that they were at the forefront of the push for better product labelling. See here for their guidance on salt and labelling.

Morrisons have a page on "switching the salt" on their website.

Marks and Spencer and Waitrose get points for being the only two retailers to send me a listing of low sodium products. Waitrose sent me a huge list of everything that they sell that is low in sodium in the post. Marks and Spencer sent me a listing on a spreadsheet via email - I must say their nutritionist was very helpful, and having the list in Excel is fantastic, as it means I can sort on the sodium content column, to find the lowest.

Waitrose's guidance on salt and labelling are here.

See here for M&S' guidance on salt and labelling. They seem to be taking salt reduction seriously, and have made it part of their "Plan A" campaign. And for that, M&S are the winner of the NaC-Hell Retailer Award for 2008!