A lavish breakfast taken by many New Zealanders on weekends, including bacon and eggs, contains high salt content that could pose threat of high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes, as concluded by a recently published article.

As per various researches, people consume twice the recommended amount of salt. Sodium is found in high concentration in Indian food and snacks, especially in foods such as pickles, poppadum and chutneys. Foods that contain high salt content are butter, bread, processed foods, breakfast cereals, ready to eat foods, marmite, cheese and snacks.

High salt concentration in diet can lead to health problems such as asthma, osteoporosis, gastric cancer, heart disease and kidney disease.

To consume low salt content food, along with maintaining the taste, traditional spices other than salt should be added to the meals. Try using pickles and chutneys made at home, rather avoid the same. Avoid ready to eat foods and use homemade spices.

Other measures include taking fresh food and avoiding vegetables or meat processed in brine. Replace salt with lemon juice or vinegar to add flavour. Properly read the labels on readymade foods to look out for salt content. It is advisable to use iodized salt and shunning the use of the same, where it is not necessary.

Those at risk of getting affected with high or low blood pressure must see their GP to keep control on their BP and avoid the use of salt.