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Consensus
Action on Salt and Health
CASH
www.actiononsalt.org.uk
Survey
shows take-away foods very high in salt - should Chinese and Indian
meals carry health warnings? |
Consensus
Action on Salt and Health (CASH) has worked with Trading Standards
officials in Milton Keynes and Surrey to uncover the very high salt
content of popular take-away foods, to coincide with Salt Awareness
Week (29th January - 4th February 2006).
The survey of
50 samples of Chicken Tikka Massala with Pilau Rice and 11 samples of
Chinese chicken dishes with fried rice reveals that many contain more
than a whole day's salt limit in a single meal.
Almost two
thirds (64%) of the Chinese meals tested contained more than 6g of
salt per serving, which is the maximum recommended intake for the
whole day. Three of them contained more than 10g of salt per serving
and the worst offender was a meal of Cashew Nut Chicken with Yellow
Bean sauce and Special Fried Rice, which contained a massive 15.75g,
over two and a half times the maximum recommended daily limit.
Over half
(52%) of the Indian meal samples contained more than 4g of salt, with
one sample containing 7.11g of salt.
"The
level of salt in these meals is shocking, and they really should
carry some sort of health warning," said Professor Graham
MacGregor, Chairman of CASH and Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine
at St George's Hospital in London. "Take-aways like these are
very popular, but they have no labelling so there is no way that
people can tell how much salt they contain.
"Previous
research has shown that eating a Chinese take-away can result in
extreme thirst, headaches, and feeling bloating, all of which are
caused by the excessive amounts of salt in the food, not the
monosodium glutamate(1).
"If we
are to get the UK's average salt intake down to below 6g a day for
adults - and thereby prevent 35,000 deaths a year from strokes and
heart attacks - we have to warn people to avoid these highly salty meals.
"Eating
too much salt pushes up blood pressure, which leads to strokes and
heart attacks," continues Professor MacGregor. "And high
salt diets are also implicated in stomach cancer. Much has been done
by the food industry over the past few years to reduce the salt they
add to our food. I'd like to see more projects of the sort that
Trading Standards have already started, to encourage caterers and
take-away restaurants to reformulate their recipes to contain far
less salt."
Diane Abbott
MP, Caroline Flint, Minister for Public Health and Dame Deirdre
Hutton, Chair of the Food Standards Agency will join Professor Graham
MacGregor at a meeting on Wednesday 1st February at the House of
Commons to highlight the importance of reducing the amount of salt we eat.
Salt Awareness
Week runs from January 29th to February 4th. Health professionals,
schools, pharmacists, caterers and nutritionists around the country
have requested over 600 Salt Awareness Packs. These will be used to
support the many local Salt Awareness Events that will take place
during the Week.
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