Diners risk heart disease and stroke because of the excessive sodium content, researchers are warning
Big hat tip to prolific tipster Dennis Ambler
A restaurant has been selling pizzas that are saltier than seawater, according to research published today.
The restaurant, in Mill Hill, North London, was singled out in research by health professionals who carried out spot checks on pizzerias across the country. They said the pepperoni pizza from the Adam & Eve restaurant contained 10.57 grams of salt, or 2.73g per 100g of pizza, meaning it is saltier than Atlantic seawater, which contains 2.5g of salt per 100g.
The study found that on average takeaway pizzas had 2.5 times the salt content of those bought from supermarkets. However some supermarket pizzas were still too high in salt – which raises blood pressure, increasing the risk of cardiac arrests and strokes.
The study singled out a Tesco pepperoni stone-baked pizza with 4.7g of salt, almost the entire daily recommended maximum for an adult.
To mark Salt Awareness Week, Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) and the Association of London Environmental Health Managers analysed 199 margherita and pepperoni pizzas from local takeaways, pizza chains and leading supermarkets across the country.
Half of the takeaway pizzas contained an adult’s entire maximum daily recommendation for salt of 6g, with a few containing more than 10g. On average the takeaway pizzas had 2.7g of salt per 100g of pizza, compared with 1.08g per 100g in the supermarket versions.
CASH said many supermarkets had made “great progress” in removing salt from their house brands, with Morrison’s performing particularly well, having five of the 10 lowest-salt own-brand pizzas surveyed.
However many supermarket pizzas would still be officially classified as “unhealthy”. None would score a green light for salt, fat or saturated fat under the Food Standards Agency’s traffic light labelling system.
I was drinking a sparkling water after lunch at work one day when the resident busy body walked up to me and demanded: “What’s the sodium content of that?” I replied: I don’t know, never paid any attention.” “Well you’d BETTER PAY ATTENTION!!” She shrieked, spun around and stomped off. Fearing an invasion of armed flak jacketed ATF agents, I read the label: “Sodium free”. The next noon she returned with her abusive drug dealing boyfriend de-jour and they were enjoying Ramen noodles (at that time they contained enough salt to sterilize an acre of ground). Maybe all that salt was “sodium free”.
Does this mean tha a single anchovy pizza is a weapon of mass destruction?
The only people who should be concerned with salt are people with high blood pressure or someone who has heart trouble. Too little salt is harmful.