Huh: these 5 ‘healthy’ products contain more salt than a bag of crisps

I used to get a bag of crisps pushed into my hands when the weather was warm. Because ‘they contain a lot of salt, which means you retain more fluid, and that’s good when it’s this hot’. Now that I’m older and wiser, I know that idea is pretty outdated. You already get enough salt from your regular diet. Well, that certainly applies to the 5 products below. Did you know they contain more salt than a bag of crisps?!

The figures on our salt consumption are pretty shocking. According to the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, we should consume no more than 6 grams of salt per day. At 9.9 grams (men) and 7.5 grams (women), we are well over that limit. Hallelujah.

Products that contain a lot of salt

When we think of salty products, we quickly think of crisps, because you can taste the salt so well. A bag of crisps weighing around 40 grams contains 0.5 grams of salt. But the products below—which nevertheless seem pretty healthy—can also pack quite a punch.

Rye bread

Looks healthy, doesn’t it, a dark slice of rye bread? As if with one bite you’ve already had all the fibre you need for the rest of the day. A 100-gram slice does contain plenty of fibre: 4.5 grams. But also plenty of salt. 100 grams of rye bread contains no less than 1.15 grams of salt. Twice as much as a bag of crisps and almost 20 percent of the amount of salt you’re allowed to eat daily. Ouch.

Sushi

If you have an all-you-can-eat sushi outing planned for the evening, you’d better avoid anything salty for the rest of the week. A serving of sushi already contains 3 grams of salt. The reasons: the seaweed (which has a very high sodium content) and the salty water in which sushi rice is cooked. And that 3 grams doesn’t even include the soy sauce. It already contains 0.64 grams of salt per teaspoon.

Smoked salmon

Salmon = fish and fish = good, right? In principle, a slice of smoked salmon is pretty healthy. It contains a lot of protein and is high in Omega 3, which provides good protection against cardiovascular disease. But the amount of salt, on the other hand… That’s not so great. You consume 3.5 grams of salt per 100-gram serving. No, in that case you’re really better off choosing a piece of regular salmon fillet. It contains just 0.1 grams of salt per 100-gram serving.

Soup from a carton

The amount of salt in soup from a carton is no laughing matter. Look at the packaging of a carton of hearty tomato soup and you’ll see that you already consume 2 grams of salt per serving. Let alone if you also eat breadsticks, croutons or bread with it… No, you’d better just make a bowl of soup yourself. We prefer that anyway (and especially this tomato soup recipe!)

Veggie burger

Veggie burgers give the impression that they’re incredibly healthy. But they’re especially good at sending your blood pressure soaring. A single veggie burger quickly contains 1.1 grams of salt. Without any sauce, so that’s just the burger itself. That 1.1 grams is already twice as much as a bag of crisps. Maybe crisps for dinner after all?

Disclaimer

A quick disclaimer, specifically about the ratios between the number of grams (and therefore also grams of salt) per product. As you read earlier, a bag of crisps contains around 40 grams. The products above aren’t quite the same in terms of weight and quantity. One slice of rye bread, for example, weighs 100 grams. If you ate 100 grams of crisps, you would indeed consume more salt than in a slice of rye bread: 1.3 grams (compared with 1.15 grams in 100 grams of rye bread).

Healthy nutritional values

In addition, products such as rye bread and salmon naturally contain more healthy nutrients than crisps. Crisps are mainly fat and salt. So you’re still making a healthier choice by eating a slice of rye bread or smoked salmon. Nevertheless, it’s good to know that healthier products can also be high in salt.

Suddenly it all makes sense how we end up consuming those 9.9 and 7.5 grams of salt per day…

Also read:

• How do you fix a dish that’s too salty?
• What’s the difference between cheap table salt and expensive salt?
• Research shows: only eat your crisps from these bowls

Source: AD