Your own energy requirements

Assessment

In your Assessment at the end of this Unit, you will be asked to:

  • Explain why it is important to control salt intake

This will help you satisfy assessment criterion 1.11 for this Unit. You’ll find lots of useful information on this page to help you complete this part of your Assessment.

Think first

Reducing and controlling the amount of salt in our diet is very important. Can you think of any reasons why this is so important? What could happen if we eat too much salt? Make some notes in the box below before you move on.

Healthy eating advice states that adults should eat no more than 6g of salt a day (the same as around one teaspoon). Children should eat less than this and the recommended amount depends on age – for example:

  • Children aged 1 to 3 years should eat no more than 2g of salt a day
  • Children aged 4 to 6 years should eat no more than 3g of salt a day
  • Children aged 7 to 10 years should eat no more than 5g of salt a day
  • Children aged 11 years and over should eat no more than 6g of salt a day

Eating too much salt can cause high blood pressure, which is a risk factor in stroke and heart disease.

Now click through the slide panel below to see some hints and tips on how we can cut down the amount of salt in our diet.

  • A lot of the salt we eat is already added to foods that are ready made for us. By reducing the amount of ready-made, processed foods we eat, we can instantly reduce the amount of salt in our diet. Stock cubes and gravy granules can be very high in salt, so making your own stock or gravy can be much better as you can actually see the amount of salt that you are adding in.

  • Instead of using salt to give food flavour, try alternatives such as herbs, spices, ground pepper, etc. A lot of people automatically add salt to their meals, even if it isn’t needed. Try to get into the habit of tasting food first, before deciding whether it needs to have salt added to it.

  • You can control the amount of salt in your diet by making sensible choices in the supermarket. For example:

    • Check the labels to see how much salt is in the food you are buying – you can compare labels on similar products to help you choose the version with the lowest salt content
    • Look out for foods with reduced salt or no added salt (for example, you can buy reduced-salt cooking sauces, baked beans, tomato ketchup, etc)
    • Buy tinned foods that are unsalted water – for example, tinned tuna in spring water will contain a lot less salt than tuna in brine
    • Include more fresh fruit and vegetables in your diet – these are much healthier snack options that crisps, crackers, nuts, etc which all contain a lot of salt