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Diet and Heart Disease

The principles of healthy eating for the heart

5. Cut down salt intake

How much salt is too much?

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According to the FSA:

•	0.6g sodium per 100g food is a lot
•	0.1g sodium per 100g is a small amount

The more salt you eat, the higher your blood pressure. High blood pressure is a risk factor for heart disease because it means your heart has to work harder to push blood around your body. And this extra pressure puts strain on your arteries that carry blood, which can weaken and clog with fatty deposits.

You should eat no more than six grams of salt a day. But three quarters of the salt we eat comes from foods we buy, which means you can easily eat double this amount. A single slice of bread can contain 0.5g of salt.

On food labels, the salt content is often given as grams of sodium. To convert sodium to grams of salt, multiply the quantity by 2.5. The daily limit is about 2.5g of sodium.

Did you know?

Sometimes the only figure on the label is per 100g, not for the product itself. A standard ready meal weighs about 500g. At 0.5g sodium per 100g it would contain 2.5g sodium - your total daily intake. You can reduce levels of salt in your diet by:

	•	Not adding salt to meals or when cooking
	•	Choosing foods that contain 0.1g sodium or less per 100g
	•	Switching to everyday foods such as bread, cereal and tinned foods to reduced salt options
	•	Limiting salty foods such as crisps, salted nuts, bacon, cheese, pickles and smoked fish.

6. Moderate alcohol

Drinking up to two units of alcohol a day appears to have a beneficial effect on the risk of heart disease for men over the age of 40 and women who have gone through the menopause. It's thought that compounds within some alcoholic drinks, particularly red wine, mop up 'free radical' molecules that can cause tissue damage. But these benefits rapidly turn to negatives when higher levels of alcohol are consumed.

The recommended limits for alcohol consumption are:

•	14 units per week for women with no more than 1-2 units per day.
•	21 units per week for men with no more than 2-3 units per day.

A unit of alcohol is:

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250ml (1/2 pint) beer or lager 3.5% ABV

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125ml glass of wine 8% ABV

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25ml spirits.


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