High Salt Content Found in “Healthy” Butter Spreads

Some of the most popular 'healthy' butter spreads contain as much salt levels as in water from Atlantic Ocean, a new study reveals.

The study was conducted by researchers at Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) who analyzed over 314 spreads and found that over 60 percent of the spreads contained salt levels higher than the official recommended target set by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in 2012.

WeightWatchers Dairy Spread, marketed as a healthy choice, contained over 2.5g salt per 100g, which is equal to the salt level from Atlantic Ocean while Marks & Spencer Softer Butter, which describes itself as 'slightly salted', in fact contains more salt than Salted Farmhouse Butter.

"It is a scandal there is still so much unnecessary salt in food - for every one gram reduction in intake, we can prevent 12,000 heart attacks, strokes and heart failures, half of which would have been fatal", CASH chairman Professor Graham MacGregor said.

Source: Medindia