Secret Salt for Breakfast - how one meal can tip you over your 6g a day
30 October 2008
• Many breakfast items are surprisingly high in salt
• Lack of labelling means some customers are unaware of salt levels
We surveyed over 200 breakfast items for their salt content and found that many foods commonly eaten for breakfast have large amounts of hidden salt.
We looked at breakfast options eaten at home and in coffee shops, greasy spoon cafes and fast food outlets. Items included breakfast cereals and milk, toast and spreads, traditional English and cooked breakfasts, muffins, croissants and pastries and hot rolls.
Unsurprisingly we found that a traditional Full English fry-up can be very salty and can contain as much as 6g of salt - the maximum recommended intake for an adult for the whole day.
However, we were surprised to find that many "sweet" muffins, croissants and pastries available in coffee shops contain more salt than a rasher of bacon. For example, the saltiest 'sweet' pastry surveyed contained 1.7g of salt equivalent to the salt content of 2 rashers of bacon.
Those eating a "healthy start" breakfast at home of coffee, orange juice, a small bowl of cornflakes and 2 slices of toast with butter and marmite might not be aware that this breakfast contains over 2.8g salt, nearly half the maximum recommended intake for an adult for the whole day.
It is important to have a good breakfast as part of a healthy diet. To help you make an informed choice about what to eat, we've created guides below listing the better breakfast choices and saltiest options.
Please click on the links below for information on the salt content of your favourite breakfast.
Breakfast Cereals and Toast & Spreads
Traditional English and Cooked Breakfasts
Muffins, Pastries and Croissants
Hot Rolls
Click here for the full press release
Cllick here for an excel spreadsheet with all the survey data
Products are continually being reformulated so please continue to check the nutritional labels.