Experts say that over half of snacks that are sold as healthy are in fact high in fat, salt and sugar.
Here what we need to know:
- The assessment was undertaken by the group Action on Salt in the United Kingdom, which found that 119 snacks that include dried/roasted pulses, processed pulse-based snacks, chickpea chips actually turned out to be saltier than seawater.
- Even though such foods are lower in fat, saturated fat, and calories on average, they are high in fibre. At least 43 per cent of such products had high levels of salt.
- Consuming salt in excessive quantities has caused thousands of cases of heart disease, cancer, and stroke.
- Sonia Pombo, the campaign manager at Action on Salt, said: “We should all be eating more beans and pulses, but there are better ways of doing it, and eating processed snacks high in salt is not one of them. This important survey has put a spotlight on the unnecessary amounts of salt in ‘healthy’ snacks, and the use of nutrition claims on HFSS [high fat, salt and/or sugar] foods need to be questioned.”
- Action on Salt said it was unclear whether snacks such as those surveyed would fall within the government’s plans to restrict the promotion of unhealthy foods, or whether that would be restricted to foods falling under the current sugar and calorie reduction programmes.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Last year Public Health England published new voluntary salt reduction targets to encourage businesses to further reduce salt levels in foods that contribute most to salt intakes. We are banning adverts for foods high in fat, salt and sugar being shown on TV before 9pm and have consulted on a total advertising restriction online of these products.”
