Bread features heavily in many diets worldwide, notes World Action on Salt and Health (WASH) and is one of the biggest sources of salt in diets. A new survey, based at Queen Mary University of London, has revealed what WASH says are the shocking levels of salt present in this essential staple. WASH surveyed over 2,000 white, wholemeal, mixed grain and flat breads from 32 countries and regions, and found that the saltiest bread in the survey – Rosemary Foccacia by ACE Bakery, available in Canada – had 2.65g of salt per 100g, which WASH says is saltier than seawater. In fact, more than a third (34%) of breads had more salt than the UK’s maximum salt target for bread (1.13g/100g).

Flat breads and wholemeal breads were more salty than other bread types in the survey, with an average salt content of 1.08g per 100g, compared to mixed grain breads, which had the lowest average salt content of 1.02g/100g. Some flat breads had more than 1.50g of salt per portion, a third of the maximum daily intake of salt as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO, 5g) and as much salt as four bags of ready salted crisps.

More than 40% (44%) of white breads included in the survey had more salt than the UK’s maximum salt target. The Republic of Macedonia produced white breads with the highest salt content, averaging 1.42g/100g, compared to China which had the lowest average salt content of 0.65g/100g. When considering portion size, Toaster Bread by Golden Crust, available in South Africa, had the most salt per portion of all white breads, with 2.46g per 250g portion - more salt than four portions of McDonald’s fries.

Despite the UK’s progress with salt reduction to date, the average salt content of wholemeal breads from Qatar, China, Costa Rica and South Africa (0.78g/100g – 0.92g/100g) were lower than the average salt content of wholemeal breads in the UK (0.93g/100g). This, says WASH, suggests that salt reduction progress may have slowed in the UK and demonstrates that mandatory salt reduction targets, such as those put in place in South Africa, are more effective than voluntary targets.

Although mixed grain breads had the lowest salt content of the bread categories, there was still a huge variation within this category. The highest salt bread - Bread type "Tipov" with Many Seeds by Milena MK, available in Bulgaria - had a salt content of 2.50g/100g, compared to the lowest salt bread - Pan Real tipo integral by Konig, available in Costa Rica - with a salt content of 0.09g/100g, a 27-fold difference in salt content.

A quarter of the products surveyed had no guidance on pack of what the portion size should be, making it difficult for consumers to judge how much of the product they should be eating. Of those that did have portion information, more than half had over half a gram of salt per suggested portion.

In the UK, WASH claims that bread is the single biggest contributor of salt to people’s diets, providing nearly a fifth of salt intake from processed foods. This, it says, is also true for many countries worldwide, wher mandatory or voluntary salt reduction targets exist for bread. Reducing salt in bread is an easy and effective way of lowering salt intake across the whole population – research has shown that the salt content of bread could be lowered by 25% over 6 weeks and consumers would not notice the difference, WASH says.

A recent survey by WASH found that a third of respondents felt that the WHO could do more to encourage countries to lower salt intakes. However, the majority of respondents felt that their country’s government should take primary responsibility.

Mhairi Brown, Nutritionist at WASH, said: “This survey clearly demonstrates the progress still to be made to lower salt intake by 30% by 2025, in line with WHO recommendations. Bread is an essential staple food in many countries but is still a key source of salt in our diets due to the frequency with which we eat bread. Globally we must do more to reduce salt intake, and a simple way to do this is to lower salt in our staple foods.”

Graham MacGregor, Professor of Cardiology at Queen Mary, University of London, and WASH Chairman said: “Eating too much salt puts up our blood pressure, the major cause of strokes, heart attacks and heart failure, the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Reducing salt intake around the world would save millions of lives each year and all countries should be working towards reducing salt intake by 30% by 2025. Our survey has shown that many bread manufacturers internationally are still adding huge and unnecessary amounts of salt to their products. Governments must act now and reinvigorate salt reduction work in the food industry.”