IT'S a myth to think that that because you don't shake the salt seller over your food that you don't eat very much salt. If only it were that simple, then we would all be able to control our intake to the recommended daily amount of 6g a day.

The problem is, when it comes down to cutting down on salt in our diet, adding salt at the table makes up only a tiny proportion of what we consume.

About 75 per cent of the salt we eat comes from processed or ready made foods, but the worst culprits aren't always those you might at first think.

There are obvious high salt foods like bacon and cheese but then we're advised to check labels on breakfast cereals, bread and even biscuits, which all contain salt. Takeaways, however, are one of the biggest culprits. And in our fast food lifestyle, even what at first seem the healthiest of choices can be deceiving.

For example, one sandwich can contain more salt than seven packets of crisps. Many shop bought sandwiches contain more than one third of the day's recommended maximum salt limit in a single serving and some contain up to 65pc of the adult daily limit.

Seemingly healthy

Professor Graham MacGregor chairman of Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH), a group of specialists concerned with salt and its effects on health, explains: "Even some seemingly healthy lunchtime salads and pasta bowls can be high in salt.

"Many people think of salad as a healthy lunch. And in many cases this is true and we would encourage people to look out for low salt, low fat salads as a good lunchtime option. However, our research shows that there are some salads out there which really ought to carry a health warning, rather than be thought of as a healthy option. Take EAT smoked mackerel superfood salad, for example. This is clearly being marketed as a healthy option, but it contains 3.5g of salt, well over half of an adult's total daily limit.

"If someone is looking to eat oily fish, then they would be much better having a Sainsbury's poached Scottish salmon and dill pasta salad, with only 0.4g of salt per portion.

"Saving 2-3g of salt a day may not sound like a lot, but research shows that people who reduce their salt intake by this sort of amount can reduce their risk of having a heart attack or stroke by a quarter."

Medical evidence links high salt intake with raised blood pressure at all levels, even in children. The good news, however, is that in many cases cutting back on salt can be enough to restore blood pressure to normal.

Blood pressure

"Salt acts as a long-term toxin that puts up blood pressure in both children and adults and thereby causes strokes and heart attacks," Prof MacGregor adds. "We know that reducing salt intakes to below the recommended 6g a day for adults and less for children reduces the risk of having a stroke by a quarter and heart attacks by one fifth.

"Heart disease and strokes still kill and disable more people in this country every year than any other disease or condition. Thousands of lives can be saved each year if we just choose lower salt foods."

It is not easy to measure exactly how much salt we are eating every day. But knowing the recommended daily amount of 6g can be useful in helping to make choices - reading labels and nutritional information to choose those foods that are lower in salt where you can.

For example, if you choose a sandwich that is high in salt at lunchtime you can still keep your diet balanced and healthy by choosing a meal that is low in salt in the evening. However, when checking labels be aware that sodium content is not the same as salt content. If the label only lists sodium you need to multiply this value by 2.5 to work out the salt content.

Classic salads, with leaves, tomatoes and spring onions, are naturally very low in salt. It is the ingredients that are added to this basic combination such as bacon, ham and cheese, that add the salt.

Watch out

Salad dressings are also something to watch out for, because it could add up to an additional gram of salt to the salad. For example, dressing a Burger King salad with a Burger King French Dressing or Tomato and Basil Dressings will only add 0.1g salt, whereas Burger King Thousand Island dressing will add 1.1g salt to the meal.

Takeaways are another problem area with researchers in Liverpool finding a Chinese meal of beef and green peppers in black bean sauce served with fried rice to contain 27.6g of salt - more than four times an adult's recommended daily intake.

The same research also found a portion of chicken tikka masala with keema rice to contain 12.5g of salt and donner kebab and chips to contain 10.1g. Similarly a family or four eating at children's favourite, Pizza hut, sharing one Cheesy Bites Meat Feast, one medium Pan Super Supreme, one garlic bread, one potato wedges, one saucy chicken wings (buffalo) and four individual Madagascar vanilla cheesecakes could eat 12.3g of salt each - in one meal alone that's more than twice the recommended daily maximum limit for an adult and almost two and a half time the limit for a 7-10 year old (5g). If a six year old were sharing this meal they could be eating more than four times their daily limit of 3g.

"It is over four years since the maximum daily limits for salt were established," says Prof MacGregor, "and yet salt levels in some take out meals are still staggeringly high. There are low salt options available at some fast food outlets and I would really urge people to choose these lower salt options when they go out for a meal."

For more details visit salt.gov.uk or actionsalt.org.uk

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