Half of pizzas bought within the UK comprise alarming quantities of salt, survey suggests

From a blanket of melted cheese masking the dough to toppings like ham and salami dotted on the highest, pizza is unsurprisingly taxing in your high cholesterol.

However, one hidden ingredient within the beloved dish additionally spells no good news in your blood pressure – salt.

Worryingly, a new survey from the charity, Action on Salt, warns that one in two pizzas bought within the UK present a days’ value or extra of salt per single pizza.

In case you aren’t conscious, your really helpful day by day salt consumption is capped at six grams of the widespread seasoning per day, in line with the NHS.

What’s worse, some pizzas comprise much more, with the saltiest choice packing a whopping 21.38 grams of salt which is “saltier than seawater”, in line with the charity.

READ MORE: The eight-week diet that could make you up to 11 years younger, according to researchers

Out of 1,387 pizzas surveyed, a staggering two in three pizzas bought in eating places and takeaways contained six grams or extra of the widespread ingredient per single pizza.

The survey additionally revealed that takeaway pizzas had been discovered to comprise greater than double the quantity of salt present in pizzas purchased in supermarkets. 

Furthermore, Action on Salt warned that present salt consumption is the main driving issue behind  hypertension, with pizza’s offering UK adults with a whopping 3,224 tonnes of salt yearly.

To illustrate this quantity, the charity famous that it’s sufficient to cowl Wembley Stadium’s soccer pitch with over 32 centimetres of salt.

High blood pressure is dubbed a silent killer resulting from its capacity to put the groundwork for severe health issues, starting from strokes to heart attacks.

Salt is taken into account the “single biggest” reason behind this situation due to its capacity to make your physique maintain onto water, Blood Pressure UK explains.

The additional water in your blood triggers additional stress in your blood vessel partitions, consequently elevating your studying.

That’s why Blood Pressure UK recommends avoiding or reducing down on meals which are “particularly high in salt”.

Professor Graham MacGregor, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine on the Queen Mary University of London and Chairman of Action on Salt, stated: “Reducing salt is the most cost-effective measure to lower blood pressure and reduce the number of people suffering from strokes, heart disease, and life-changing disabilities, associated with this – all of which is completely avoidable. 

“According to the Department of Health and Social Care, each one gram per day reduction in the population’s salt intake saves more than 4,000 premature deaths per year.

“Given this, it’s a disgrace that food companies continue to fill our food with so much salt when there is the option to reformulate, which our research shows can easily be done. 

“The Government must act now for the benefit of our future health, and furthermore save the NHS many billions of pounds.”

To mark Salt Awareness Week, which is happening between May 15 and 21, Action on Salt is asking on the Government to work collectively to implement the salt targets.

To take management of your salt consumption again, Blood Pressure UK recommends meals labels and avoiding meals with excessive salt content material, which is 1.5 grams or extra per 100 grams of the meals.

Fortunately, reducing again on the widespread seasoning is among the easiest methods to decrease your blood pressure studying.

“And [it] will start to make a difference very quickly, even within weeks,” the charity provides.