Survey shows manufacturers continue to pack too much salt in their products

Oct 10, 2011 20:41 GMT  ·  By

Nutritionists have repeatedly warned us that, if one product is labeled “healthier” it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily so. This is also the case with McDonald’s low-fat blueberry muffin, it has emerged.

Usually, whenever consumers want to improve their lifestyle even by a bit by making changes in their diets, the tendency is to choose “healthier,” “low-fat” or “sugar-free” variants of the same products they used to buy before.

However, in doing so, they’re actually making matters worse because the labels on the products don’t reflect reality and there are hidden ingredients that are very damaging to their health.

Take the McDonald’s muffin, for instance: though considered a healthy choice for a coffee break, it actually has more salt than a burger, the Consensus Action on Salt and Health has determined, as Lifestyle AOL informs.

“A study of popular snacks from Consensus Action on Salt and Health found that although some food chains have made efforts to cut salt levels, others have not succeeded – and 85 per cent of popular products contain as much salt as they did a year ago,” the e-zine says.

“The McDonald’s low-fat blueberry muffin has 1.7g of salt – more than in three packets of ready-salted crisps,” adds the same publication.

The survey underlined that, despite promises from the manufacturers, very little has actually changed in terms of lowering salt content in their products.

Starbucks and Eat have also been found guilty of this. Also at McDonald’s, CASH even found a muffin (the double chocolate one) in which the salt content is now bigger than it was last year.

The hidden content of salt puts consumers at risk, since they’re overdosing on salt on a daily basis – and not only do they not know it, but they actually believe, as in the case of the muffin, that they’re opting for the healthier product.

“Manufacturers need to stop hiding salt in their products and stop irresponsibly introducing new ones that are high in salt immediately,” Professor Graham MacGregor, of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, says.

“It is the high levels of salt in our food that puts up our blood pressure, leading to strokes and heart attacks,” he adds.