Ra 4 Food - Health and Nutritional Tips

A new report has revealed that Warbutons are putting as much as 20% more salt in their bread than average, leaving consumers at a higher risk of heart disease and other related illnesses from too much salt intake.

Warbutons are the second biggest food brand in Britain - with only Coca-cola ahead of them. In some of their loaves, there is as much as half a gram of salt per slice. Therefore, if a five year old child were to eat three sandwiches, they would have consumed their entire recommended daily amount.

Too much salt in our diet can be deadly, as it raises blood pressure, which in turn can cause heart attacks and strokes. If salt levels were to decrease, campaigners argue, over 16,500 lives could be saved every year in the UK. That is equal to a third of smoker-related deaths. In addition, a further 16,500 non-fatal heart attacks and strokes could be prevented, reports campaigning group, Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash).

Goverment run Food Standards Agency (FSA) have demanded that manufacturers reduced salt levels. However, the response rate is variable, and some companies have not caught up.

A recent survey of Warburtons’ most popular loaves, showed four had salt levels ranging between 1.13g and 1.18g per 100g. Further, seven more products did not reach the FSA’s official target.

In comparison to other leading brand breads, Warbutons contained 5 per cent more than Kingsmill, 12 per cent more than Tesco and a shameful 20 per cent more salt than Sainsburys.

Warbutons are a long running bakers, originating from Bolton in Lancashire. They market themselves as a family run and wholesome company. They have hit back at the headlines by saying they have reduced salt levels in their bread by over 30 per cent and are well on their way to achieving their target for 2010.

However, pressure group CASH say they need to act now, and dramatically drop salt levels much quicker in order to improve the health of the three million consumers who eat Warbutons bread every day. Their chairman, Professor Graham MacGregor, an NHS doctor who works with heart patients at St George’s Hospital, south London, said,

“Bread is the major source of salt in the diet. It is vital that bread manufacturers take a really responsible role. There are no technical problems in producing bread with less salt and Warburtons and the branded products have much higher levels than the supermarket breads. It’s their responsibility to get that down.”

Salt is ordinarily used in manufacturing to add taste, but it can also be used to hide the flavour of cheap ingredients. As much as 75 per cent of our salt intake comes from the sodium in processed food.

CASH have suggested that dropping salt levels could be huge public health success, as the consumer is not required to do a thing to improve their diet - it is all down to the manufacturer. However, CASH feels that the Food Standards Agency are not doing nearly enough after caving in from pressure by Nestlé, Tesco and Waitrose to lower some targets in 2006.

The recommendation from the FSA suggests we eat no more than 6 grams of salt per day. However the World Health Organisation thinks the figure should be closer to 5 grams. And in fact, scientific research would have us believe that 3 grams of salt a day is enough. However, with overly salted processed and takeaway foods, we are eating as much as five times too much salt per day.

The FSA published targets in 2005, to be reached by 2010 and suggest a maximum of 1.1 gram of salt is used in every 100 grams.