New research carried out by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH), has found surprisingly high levels of salt in products from high street coffee shops. A survey of 159 bakery treats and 28 popular hot beverages from the six major high street coffee shop chains found that a hot drink and a sweet treat such as a piece of cake or a cookie can contain shocking amounts of salt. You could be eating 2.43g of salt in a morning snack alone, more than a third of your daily 6g maximum, without even knowing it due to the lack of labelling on the products. A hot drink with a piece of cake could contain nearly as much salt as five packets of crisps.
The survey looked at sweet bakery goods and hot drinks likely to be consumed as part of a coffee break. One of the products surveyed, muffins, were found to be consistently high in salt, with 23 out of 27 found to contain more salt than a packet of crisps.
“Going out for a coffee and a muffin is a popular calorie-laden treat, but many people do not realise sweet foods can also contain unnecessary salt” says CASH Campaign Manager Katharine Jenner. “High levels of salt can leave you feeling uncomfortably bloated and sluggish. More seriously, in the long term salt intake is linked to health problems such as osteoporosis and high blood pressure.”
