News

Our monthly nutritional news letter with the latest research and thinking.

Hidden salt – Nutritional news – issue 3

This month’s nutritional news is focused on salt. It’s been in the press recently and I get asked about it a lot. I favour traditional unprocessed sea salt but this isn’t a comparison between that and table salt. For the purpose of this article we should assume that all salt is basically very similar in chemical make up.

I must admit to liking salt myself. I add it to my food when cooked and occasionally to my food while cooking. This is probably because ‘salty’ is an acquired taste, starting from childhood. We literally teach ourselves to eat it. The good news is that the less salt you eat, the less you want. The bad news is that for taste perception, only salt will do. Most, if not all salt replacements don’t produce the same taste and leave us wanting more.

The main problem with salt in our food is the vast amounts that are used in commercial food processing. 75% of the salt we eat is already in the food we are eating. A typical brand of cornflakes contains upwards of 1.75g per 100g. 30g is supposed to be the average serving size but I haven’t come across anyone who only eats 30g at a sitting, especially growing kids. It’s not unusual for someone to have had 50% of their salt intake before they leave the house in the morning.

It’s pretty easy to check how much you are consuming by keeping a simple food diary for 48 hours and noting the salt content of your food. The food standards agency recommends the following daily allowance for salt. I think it’s fair to say that there was probably a large amount of lobbying to keep these allowances as high as possible. These really are maximum guidelines and you should aim for much less.

Daily salt allowance
1 – 3 years 2g/day
4 – 6 years 3g/day
7 – 10 years 5g/day
11 years and over 6g/day
There is between 4-6g of salt in a teaspoon.

So what is the solution?
In my utopia food manufactures wouldn’t be allowed to add or remove anything from foods unless they could prove that it adds nutritional value to the product. When commenting on proposed reduced levels of salt in processed food an industry spokesperson said that ‘some of the targets would be impossible to reach so quickly’, stating that ‘consumers palates must be given more time to adjust to the lower salt products. If they were not, then consumers would simply add more salt at the meal table’. Not sure about you but I’m pretty sure that if my cornflakes didn’t taste right I wouldn’t be reaching for the table salt!

The simple solution is to cut back on processed foods. These include breakfast cereals, baked goods, cooking sauces, sandwiches, meats, pizza and condiments.

Referral reward scheme

My business relies almost entirely on referrals and I’d like to recognise this by offering referral rewards. The way it works is simple; when a client makes an appointment with me they provide the name and contact details of the person who referred them (you). Upon completion of their first appointment Jamie Richards Nutrition will post you a 30 day supply of Viridians High Five multi vitamin and mineral.

I’ll continue to vary the rewards as this isn’t a Viridian promotion and I am in no way connected to their company. It just happens to be a favourite of mine and their ethical values match those of my own.

This promotion will be valid for 3 months from 03/06/09.

Running
I managed 44.39 for the Bristol 10k last month. Much better than I’d hoped so my training is going well. Next up is the GWR towpath series race 2 on Friday 5th June. I would suggest popping along to enjoy the atmosphere but it looks like rain all way. The route takes us along the Avon gorge and after all this dry weather I’m envisaging a mud fest.

Events
A big thank you to everyone who attended last months Well Woman talk. It was great to have such a good turnout. Following on from that success I’m pleased to confirm that George Cooper will be presenting part 2 on Thursday 18th June 6-7pm at The Better Food Company . George will be discussing female health and fertility from a traditional Chinese medicine approach. This promises to be a great event for anyone with interest in female health, its free and we’ll provide some food tasters and other goodies to. Although the talk is FREE it would be a great help if you were to register your interest by emailing me jamie@jamierichards.co.uk

Have a great month.

These recommendations are not comprehensive and are not intended to replace the advice of your doctor or pharmacist