Consuming food with high concentrations of salt can increase your blood pressure as you age.  Eating processed foods that contain higher salt concentrations could increase your risk of having heart disease.  Processed foods contain much higher levels of salt and sauces, spreads and processed meats contain the most amount of salt among the processed foods.

Researchers found that sauces and spreads contain 1,283 mg per 100 g of salt, processed meats have 846 mg per 100g while cereals and fruits and vegetable have the lowest salt concentration with 200 to 211 mg of salt per 100 grams.  Other products like hard cheeses and frozen products had sodium concentrations that were higher than the maximum standards.

To cut the amount of salt in processed foods, the public health officials are asking food companies to reduce the amount of salt they add to their products.  In UK and France, they were able to achieve salt reductions through industry collaborations.  A campaign was launched in New York City to cut the salt intake in the United States by 25% over the next five years.