The Salty Muffins, One Year On
One year after CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health) revealed the high levels of salt in coffee break products of leading coffee shops, a new study has revealed only small progress has been made since then.
New figures show that 85% of the products contain the same level of salt as they did in 2010, with some chains even adding new high salt products.
The saltiest product is now McDonald's Low Fat Blueberry Muffin, which contains 1.7g of salt, as much as one of its burgers. A Toasted Fruit Brioche from EAT contains 1.6g of salt, as much as three packets of crisps.
Each of these is more than a quarter of the daily recommended intake of 6g.
"Manufacturers need to stop hiding salt in their products" argues Prof Graham MacGregor (Chairman of CASH), " and stop irresponsibly introducing new ones that are high in salt"
On a more positive note, some of the biggest offenders from the 2010 survey have greatly reduced their salt content.
Caffe Nero's Luxury Fruit Scone, which was as salty as a Big Mac with 2.1g of salt, now has 1.2g which equates to a 42% decrease. EAT has reduced the salt content of its Muesli Cookie by 68%, from 1.575g to 0.5g.
With these being as popular as before, it shows that it is possible for food manufacturers to reduce the levels of sodium (the main component of regular salts) in their products without compromising greatly on the taste or popularity of the product.
Story taken from CASH website. Click here to view
