Eat less salt to reduce your risk of cancer

Big 'news' this week is that eating less salt lowers your risk of developing cancer, especially cancer of the stomach. See this BBC News report, where you will read: "Cutting back on salty foods such as bacon, bread and breakfast cereals may reduce people's risk of developing stomach cancer, according to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF)." I put inverted commas round the word 'news' because my website has been informing people of this fact for many years and so it is hardly news. The usual establishment health message about salt reduction is that reducing salt intake reduces your risk of stroke, heart disease and heart attacks, and that it lowers high blood pressure, and while this health message is undoubtedly correct, it omits a multitude of other health benefits that result from eating less salt, most amazingly omitting the information that cutting salt intake is the fastest, safest way to lose excess weight. - In view of all the publicity about the prevalence and dangers of obesity, it's a real shame (I use the word advisedly) that this weight reduction information is not being promulgated by the public health brigade. Indeed, they almost seem to go out of their way to keep us in the dark about it. (The explanation for the weight loss is that salt reduction reduces the fluid retention which contributes to all overweight. Read about the groups of people that are particularly vulnerable to salt.)

Shame on the Royal Society of Chemistry!

In pursuit of a cheap, filling meal in the name of austerity, the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has resurrected, and is publicising, an economical dish from Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. The dish in question is a Toast Sandwich. You can read about it in this BBC News report. The 'meal' consists of a slice of thin toast sandwiched between two slices of buttered bread, with salt and pepper added to taste. You can listen to the Today programme's interview with an RSC employee here, and you will find that swapping the butter for margarine instead is even recommended as being more healthy! - I think not!

What an unhealthy meal the Royal Society of Chemistry is advocating! Bread is high in salt and is the main food source of salt intake for the average person in this country, and we are constantly being enjoined to eat less salt in order to reduce high blood pressure, reduce risk of stroke, heart disease and heart attack, reduce risk of developing type 2 diabetes and reduce risk of countless other degenerative conditions. And you even suggest adding more salt! - Spot on there, then, RSC, I don't think! - Bread's also high in carbohydrate: wheat flour and sugar. - More baddies, RSC! - Yeast and gluten are other ingredients problematic for many consumers. Factory-produced bread also contains undesirables like flour 'improvers', preservatives and other unnatural ingredients.

You point to bread as containing additives of calcium, iron and B vitamins making it extra nutritious! - Shame on you, RSC! - This is not a nutritious meal! - At an estimated cost of 7½p, this is a cheap travesty of a meal and a cheap way of damaging your health, endorsed and promoted by a respected institution that should know better!

New warning about high salt content of bread

BBC News reports that Consensus Action on Salt & Health (CASH) campaigners are warning again about the high salt content of bread. "A third of breads contain more salt than recommended under guidelines being introduced next year, a survey found. Most breads were within the current guidelines of 1.1g of salt per 100g - but this is being cut to 1g per 100g. Campaign for Action on Salt and Health (Cash), which looked at 300 breads, said it was "outrageous" that bread contained even the current level."

These are the groups of people who are vulnerable to salt. If you are vulnerable to salt you may like to consider cutting down on the amount of bread you eat. At any rate, you could benefit your health by choosing a lower salt bread, using the information given on the CASH website.

The Department of Health remains complacent: "The Department of Health said "considerable" salt reductions had already been made." - That's as in 'considerable' salt reductions from the scandalously high levels of salt most bread has contained for many years. The bread industry has assuredly played a major part in the distressingly high incidence of high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and obesity in modern times. It has also helped to cause most people in our country to develop a taste for salt - like an addiction - such that food with little or no added salt tastes too 'bland' to them.

"British Retail Consortium food director Andrew Opie said retailers and manufacturers are to fund independent research to look for ways of meeting the 2012 target - "while still making foods which consumers want to buy"." - I'll translate that for you. - It means that they are doing their damnedest, by means of additives and technology, to lower the salt content by the minimum they can get away with, while retaining the same degree of salty taste in order to keep their customers addicted to salty bread.

Salty food is very bad for babies and small children

Salty food is very bad for babies and small children. It harms them in many ways. Two new newspaper articles this week draw attention to the harmful effects of salty food on children. In the Telegraph we read that cow's milk is too salty for babies and in the Independent we learn of a study finding that parents are feeding babies too much salty food, e.g. bread and baked beans. Babies and small children need to be protected from salt, not just because of harm in the present - higher blood pressure, serious damage to their immature kidneys, raised risk of heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes and all the other degenerative health conditions - but because by developing a taste for salt, or even an addiction to salt, these health difficulties will multiply throughout their (very likely shortened) lives. Inappropriately high salt intake is also a major cause of child obesity. And see Sodium in Foods.

If you harm a baby by feeding it salty food, the harm is permanent; you cannot undo that harm later.

Bread is high in SALT. Cut it down or cut it out if you are overweight.

Whether it's white, brown, wholewheat, wholemeal, granary, multigrain, mixed grain, malted, seeded, rye bread, ciabatta, whether it contains added oats, oatmeal or bran, whether it's a milk loaf or a farmhouse, a bread cake or a bread roll, soft-grain or crusty: - it's high in salt! - And salt/sodium is your enemy if you want to lose excess weight or reduce high blood pressure.

How to lose excess weight safely and easily by eating less salt and salty food. You will feel so much better!

See sodium in food.

Groups vulnerable to salt.

More children are suffering from EXTREME obesity

See Los Angeles Times blog report.

This tragic state of affairs obtains because members of the public continue to receive the wrong information and advice about obesity, and in particular, about child obesity.

When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.

Because children have much smaller bodies than adults it would be best if they had no more than half as much salt as adults. Most children, however, have much more than this because they eat so many snacks and instant foods. Just one cheeseburger, for instance, contains almost double the recommended daily salt maximum for children. There are high amounts of salt in packet soups, instant noodles, ketchup and sauces, sausages, burgers and savoury snacks. Fat children will lose weight fast if they eat less salt. And even faster still if they eat plenty of fresh fruit and unsalted vegetables, because these are rich in potassium, which helps to displace sodium from the body. Overweight children should not be put on a diet; dieting is harmful and unnecessary and does not usually result in weight loss. Once children start dieting it is often the beginning of a lifetime of yo-yo dieting and increasing weight and ill-health.

Unfortunately bread contains a lot of salt and most families eat quite a lot of bread because of using it for sandwiches in packed lunches, and for toast, etc. Because of its high salt content bread is not a healthy food for little children or for anyone who is overweight. Some bread manufacturers have lowered the salt content of certain loaves, but most bread still usually contains 0.5g or more of sodium per 100g. This is too much. - Always check on the packet; look for the lowest sodium content.

Cheese is often recommended as being good for children because it contains calcium, but cheese is not really good for children because it has a high salt content. So don't give them a lot of it. Children can get plenty of calcium by drinking milk and by eating yogurt (but avoid the sort of yogurt that has lots of chemical additives).

See Children and Obesity

And see Sodium in foods

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Lose weight

vulnerable groups

FAT RETENTION

Britain's most-popular brands of bread could be banned from claiming health benefits of their very salty loaves, under draft EU regulations.

Bakers face ban on claiming salty breads are healthy
article in the Telegraph

Extracts:

"Bakers would no longer be able to market their products as "high in fibre" or "wholesome" if they contain more than 1g of salt per 100g.

Research in 2007 indicated that nearly half of loaves on supermarket shelves in Britain were above this threshold, indicating that the proposed rule could affect millions of loaves sold each year.

Major producers including Warburtons and Hovis are among the worst offenders, tests have shown, with some breads marked multigrain, organic or "diet" containing higher than recommended levels of salt.

Bread is the largest single source of salt in our diet and health experts say that cutting the amount used in baking could save 7,000 lives a year by reducing rates of heart attacks and strokes.

The EU limit is lower than a 1.1g per 100g target set for 2010 by the Food Standards Agency."

"The British Federation of Bakers said that the salt content of loaves had fallen substantially in recent years, and said that the EU regulations may include exemptions for certain types of loaf – including wholemeal and brown – by the time they are finalised next month."

I regard it as disgraceful that bread manufacturers have been allowed to manufacture and sell these high salt breads when it is known that high salt intake can and does harm health.

You can easily make your own bread by using a breadmaker and ensure that it has a much lower sodium content, especially if you use a lower sodium salt substitute instead of ordinary table salt.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free. I am not a doctor or a dietician or a nutritionist. My website does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Britain's biggest baker, Warburtons, is selling bread with up to 20 per cent more salt than rivals.

Warburtons bread 'has highest salt content'
Article in the Telegraph

Extract 1

"An investigation revealed that some loaves made by Warburtons, – the UK's biggest food brand after Coca-Cola – contain half a gram of salt per slice, meaning that a five-year-old child would reach their safe limit from eating three sandwiches.

Salt raises heart pressure which is the biggest cause of heart attacks and strokes. Campaigners say lowering levels would save 16,500 lives a year – a third of the deaths from smoking. A further 16,500 people would be prevented from having debilitating non-fatal heart attacks and strokes, according to the pressure group Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash)."

Extract 2

"Overall, Warburtons had an average of 1.08g salt, 5 per cent more than Kingsmill, 12 per cent more than Tesco, and 20 per cent saltier than Sainsbury's, which has been praised for improving cardiovascular health.

Warburtons, a privately-owned brand from Bolton, Lancashire, promotes itself as a wholesome, family-run baker. Warburtons defended its record, saying it had cut salt by "over 30 per cent in recent years" and would hit targets by their deadline in 2010."

I don't think it's completely accurate for Warburton's to say that they have cut salt by "over 30 per cent in recent years" because a few years ago some of the loaves they used to sell were called, if I remember correctly, Healthy White loaves, and they definitely contained a much lower amount of salt than other loaves - about 0.3g sodium (equal to 0.75g salt) per 100g, because they used LoSalt in the making of the bread, rather than ordinary salt. - I was very sorry that they discontinued this loaf, because it was so much less harmful than other shop-bought bread. Most bread at that time contained about 0.5g (or more) sodium per 100g.

Remember, you can make your own bread easily in a breadmaker and then you could keep the salt content down. Bread manufacturers often claim that salt is necessary to the bread-making process. - I find this hard to believe because I don't put any salt at all into the bread I make and the 'process' doesn't seem to be affected...(o: - However, this is purely my own experience; I know nothing at all about salt in bread-making other than my own experience so I may well be wrong about whether salt affects bread-making.

Extract 3

"The campaign group Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) urged it to immediately make steeper cuts to improve its customers' health. Three million people eat Warburtons bread every day. "Bread is the major source of salt in the diet," said Cash's chairman, Professor Graham MacGregor, an NHS doctor who treats heart patients at St George's Hospital, south London. "It is vital that bread manufacturers take a really responsible role."

Manufacturers use salt to improve taste and disguise the use of cheap ingredients. 75 per cent of sodium in the diet comes from processed food."

I do wish Professor MacGregor would tell people the most important information about salt, namely that obesity is caused by salt sensitivity/fluid retention/sodium retention and is reduced by eating less salt. It is inconceivable that he does not know it. I wrote him a long letter about obesity and the salt connection years ago. I politely pointed out that there were some serious errors in his book about salt.

The longer he delays telling the truth about obesity, the greater the harm done to millions of people. The risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, while correct to attribute (in part) to salt intake, does not have the impact that telling the truth about obesity would have. Whilever most people, including the Government's Health Ministers, the Department of Health, doctors, dieticians and the Food Standards Agency, continue to promulgate the lie that obesity is caused by eating too many calories and is reduced by eating fewer calories than the body requires, obesity and its attendant illnesses and ill-health will almost certainly continue to increase, because, as we have just read, the food companies are dragging their feet in reducing the amount of salt they ladle into their harmful products without a lot of censure from their customers, who are being misinformed by the medical profession and Government agencies and the dieting industry.

They all need to confess that they have been misleading the public. - The misinformation is causing terrible, needless suffering, because dieting/calorie restriction leads to inadequate nutrition/malnutrition and so increases the harm done by the salt sensitivity and does not reduce obesity at all. And of course they need to tell the public about the huge rôle prescription drugs play in making people sensitive to salt.

(Addendum: according to my hitcounter, it looks as though someone from Rank Hovis has been reading this blog entry today, October 31st. - Let's hope it will do some good!)

See Extract 4:

"In general, branded breads had more salt than those made by supermarkets. Hovis' white granary bread had 1.4g of salt per 100g – the highest in the survey.")

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

See Sodium in foods

vulnerable groups

See amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

Premium supermarket food is often unhealthier' than the budget versions. - Plus a warning about high salt content of bread from supermarket bakeries

Premium supermarket food 'often unhealthier'

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Luxury ranges of food in supermarkets are often less healthy than the budget versions, the consumer group, Which? reports today.

Researchers found that one in four shoppers buy these premium lines, such as Tesco Finest or Sainsbury's Taste the Difference, because they think the products are better for their health.

However, they are often the highest in saturated fat - one of the most unhealthy forms of fat commonly associated with strokes, heart disease and obesity. They also often contain more salt and sugar than the standard versions.

Morrisons' beef lasagne from its The Best range has twice the fat per portion of the budget version. Asda's Extra Special lasagne contains 0.9g of salt per 100g, compared with 0.6g in the budget Smart Price version.

Tesco sells Finest European chicken kievs with garlic and parsley, which contains 2.2g of sugar per 100g - almost four times as much sugar as its standard garlic butter chicken -breast kievs.

Meanwhile, at Sainsbury's, a Taste the Difference Cumberland pie, while having less saturated fat than the standard version, is more salty and has almost twice the amount of sugar.

Bread salt warning:

Which?, the consumer watchdog, warns today that bread bought from super­-market bakeries can be twice as salty as other loaves.

Which? says that pre-packaged bread usually labels its sodium content but fresh bakery bread does not. The bakery bread averages at about 0.9g of salt per 100g of bread, about 7.5g in a large 800g loaf. Asda's granary tin loaf has the least salt on average (0.5g per 100g). The four saltiest loaves (1.1g) were the Morrisons white and granary loaves, Sainsbury's white sandwich and Tesco granary."

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Some bread still has too much salt, finds study by Consensus Action on Salt and Health

Some bread still has too much salt, finds study

Extracts:

"Despite industry moves to cut levels over the last few years, some brands are still made with excessive amounts of salt, according to the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash)."

""The FSA's target salt level for bread is 1.1g per 100g. The lowest-salt bread found was Burgen's Wholegrain and Cranberry (0.55g per 100g). The highest place was shared by Asda's Medium White Big Loaf and Morrison's Best Farmhouse Malted Bread (1.5g per 100g)."

"Gordon Polson, the director of the Federation of Bakers, said bakers had agreed to reduce salt levels further by 2010.

"Although our members are happy to be working with the FSA on this issue, the reduction of salt in bread thus far has been immensely challenging as salt plays such a critical role in dough formation," he said.

"Any change that may diminish the flavour would be counterproductive to the objective of improving diets as it is acknowledged that bread plays an important role in a healthy, balanced diet.""

I wonder what that 'critical role in dough formation' is? - I have for years made excellent bread in a breadmaker and used no salt at all! - I use very good bread flour, water, a little sugar, a little unsalted butter, and, of course, yeast. - The bread does not keep as well as salted bread does, but it doesn't need to. And if you make your own bread you can make sure it doesn't include any dodgy additives. - Why not try it?

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)