Why is too much salt bad for my health?

It's almost universally known that a high salt intake is bad for your health.

That notion has been brought to the fore by a report claiming a failed government strategy has led to thousands of extra cases of heart disease, stroke and stomach cancer.

The report says that if urgent action isn't taken, then by 2025 more than 40,000 extra cases of disease and cancer may have occurred, with almost 9,000 deaths.

But what is salt, why is eating too much of it so bad, and what can we do to stay healthy?

What is salt and how is it made?

Salt finds its way into most of the foods we eat.

Salt - in whatever form you find it - is made up of sodium and chloride. They are both minerals essential for human life.

There are various different types of salt; sea salt, rock salt, garlic salt, Himalayan pink salt, kosher salt, Celtic salt, and of course, table salt.

There are generally three main ways of producing salt: Solution mining, solar evaporation and deep-shaft mining.

Deep-shaft mining, the most common way of producing the stuff, works much in the same way as mining for anything else - by digging to find ancient deposits.

Why is too much salt bad?

Deep-shaft salt mines, such as this one in the Dominican Republic, are the most sources of salt. Credit: AP

The most common negative effect of salt is that too much of it is thought to raise your blood pressure.

Salt has a direct effect on your blood pressure because of the way it makes your body hold on to water more than it would in normally.

If you eat too much salt, the water levels in your body increase and as a result, the extra fluid raises your blood pressure.

High blood pressure is a risk factor for stroke and heart disease, and among other things, can damage your kidneys, according to the NHS.

How much salt is too much?

Guidance from the NHS says adults should consume no more than six grams of salt per day, however, if you can bring your salt intake down further that's even better.

Six grams of salt takes up about a teaspoon - so not a lot.

Children should have even less salt and how much depends on their age.

Here's the NHS guidance:

- 1 to 3 years – 2g salt a day - 4 to 6 years – 3g salt a day - 7 to 10 years – 5g salt a day - 11 years and over – 6g salt a day

Babies under one year old should have less than 1g of salt a day and a sufficient amount is contained within breast milk. That means never add salt to your baby's food.

Reducing the amount of salt in your diet isn't just about throwing out your favourite condiment though - there is much more to it than that.

How can I reduce my salt intake?

One way to reduce salt intake is to stop using so much while cooking.

The best way to reduce your salt intake is simply to buy less salty foods.

A massive 75% of the salt we eat finds its way into our body by being hidden in products we've already bought, not by being added by to food ourselves, according to the NHS.

An easy way to check how salty the food your buying is by looking at the nutrition labels.

Most pre-packed foods now have a label with colour-coded nutrition information which indicate whether the salt level is: green (low), amber (medium), red (high).

The NHS says you should mainly eat green and amber foods.

Another way to reduce your salt intake is to use less of it when cooking.

Many people add salt to their food instinctively without tasting it - check how it tastes first, then add salt only if you need to.

Cutting salt out your diet can be compared to cutting sugar out your cups of tea.

At first, tea without sugar might taste hideous but after a few weeks your taste buds adjust. It's the same with salt.