Curries 'too high in salt'

Convenience foods such as supermarket curries include almost three-and-a-half times the maximum recommended daily intake of salt, according to a study.

Data from the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) said that eating a curry, rice, naan, sag aloo and a poppadom and chutney can amount to as much as 20.5g of salt compared to the recommended daily maximum of 6g.

Cash chairman Professor Graham MacGregor, from the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, said: "It is the very high levels of unnecessary salt that are added to our food that puts up our blood pressure and leads to thousands of people needlessly dying of strokes, heart attacks and heart failures every year."

He urged all convenience food manufacturers to cut down on the amount of salt in their products immediately.

Earlier this week, it was reported that New York City has launched a voluntary National Salt Reduction Initiative, which will see food manufacturers such as Heinz committing to reducing salt levels in their products.

Posted by Jason Webster