You may have noticed recently that stories have been flying around in the press about consuming too much salt in your diet. As we all know, eating too much of one thing is definitely detrimental to one’s health in the long term and this also applies to that chemical compound sodium chloride which we all know as salt.

The UK government is advising all of us to cut down on salt and the website www.salt.gov.uk gives you more details on why you need to reduce its intake.

Basically, adults should eat no more than 6g of salt a day. 6g of salt is about a teaspoonful. This is not a large amount, especially when you consider that 75% of the salt we eat is already in everyday foods. It would be very difficult to calculate exactly how much salt you eat in a day, because you would need to know the salt content of each food and measure the exact quantities you eat.

But it's useful to know the recommended maximum of 6g, because if you find out the amount of salt in a few of the foods you normally eat, then you'll see how easy it can be to eat more than 6g.

Three-quarters (75%) of the salt we eat comes from processed food, such as breakfast cereals, soups, sauces, ready meals and biscuits.

Almost everyone eats some processed foods. Even people who make all their own meals from scratch will usually buy foods such as bread and biscuits and these can be high in salt.

So, before you assume that you don't eat too much salt, take a look at what you're buying, as well as how you use salt at home.

Too much salt is bad for your heart and there are a number of easy, practical things one can do reduce salt intake, such as replace salty snacks with fruit or vegetable snacks.

Here are some pointers

High blood pressure is the major cause of heart failure, heart attacks and strokes

Salt is one of the main factors in high blood pressure.

Your food can tell you how much salt it contains.

One of the easiest ways to cut down on salt is to compare foods and choose those that are lower in salt whenever you can.

Salt is often listed as sodium on food labels.

Salt is also called sodium chloride. It's the sodium in salt that can be bad for your health.

Salt = sodium x 2.5

If you know how much sodium is in a food, you can work out roughly the amount of salt it contains by multiplying the sodium by 2.5. So if a portion of food contains 1.2g sodium then it contains about 3g salt.

Posh salt is not better than table salt. It's the sodium in salt that can raise your blood pressure. It doesn't matter how expensive salt is, where it is from, or whether it comes in grains, crystals or flakes - it still contains sodium.

I have been told by many people in India that they need more salt in hot climates because you sweat so much. This is not true. We only lose a small amount of salt through sweat, even in extremely hot places. So there's no need to eat more salt in hot climates. But it's important to drink plenty of water to keep your body hydrated.

Another rumour I have heard is that if you cut down on salt, your body won’t have enough! It's actually very difficult to eat too little salt. This is because it's in so many everyday foods, such as breakfast cereals, ready meals, soups, sauces and biscuits. And people in some countries survive on a fraction of the amount of salt eaten by people in the UK.

Cooking Tips

When most people think of salt, they think of shaking it on their food, or adding a pinch to cooking. And it's important to try to get out of the habit of using salt in this way. But you also need to be careful about the salt you can't see.

There are lots of ways to add flavour to your cooking without using salt.

Soy sauce contains salt, but there is a salt free version.

You can add fresh herbs to curry and pasta dishes, vegetables and meat.

Marinade meat and fish in advance to give them more flavour.

Use garlic, ginger, chilli and lime in stir fries.

Make your own stock and gravy using cumin, coriander and a pinch of garam masala, instead of using cubes or granules.

Roast vegetables such as red peppers, courgettes, fennel, parsnips and squash to bring out their flavour.

Squeeze lemon juice onto fish or seafood.

Try using different types of onion - brown, red, white, spring onions, shallots.

Make sauces using ripe flavoursome tomatoes and garlic.

Use black pepper as a seasoning on curries, Asian dishes, pasta, scrambled egg etc instead of salt.

And try not to add salt automatically when you're cooking or about to eat. Often people only use salt out of habit.

Don't be afraid to experiment with other flavourings and spices. Try sprinkling lemon juice, or adding fresh herbs, garlic, ginger or chilli. Fresh herbs keep for about five days but you can grow them just as easily.

Who really needs that much salt when you have a whole world of spices to discover?