Salt warning for pizzas

Reporter: Jackie Quist
Broadcast Date: May 20, 2009

As a nation we are addicted to salt with each of us consuming 3.2kg of it every year but the health consequences are shocking.

Today, the pizza industry was feeling the heat after findings from the Australian Division of World Action on Salt and Health.

Its chairman, Associate Professor Bruce Neal, said there is very good evidence that salt causes high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke and kidney disease.

"It may even cause stomach cancer," he said.

Salt is listed on food labels as sodium. To convert grams of sodium into grams of salt, you have to multiply by 2.5.

"For good health you need about 1g or 2g of salt a day, the recommended daily intake is 4g, the recommended maximum is 6g."

But after testing 115 pizzas from Pizza Hut, Dominos and Eagle Boys, researchers found more than two-thirds contained double an adult's recommended daily intake.

The worst offender was Pizza Hut's Thin 'N Crispy BBQ Meat Lovers.

"The top pizza had three times the suggested daily intake of salt but these are salty products, they have a lot of meats, olives, cheese and the like," Associate Professor Neal said.

Of 41 supermarket-bought pizzas, three-quarters were laced with more than 4g of salt.

More: Takeaway myths tested

McCain's Pizza Singles Ham and Pineapple had the lowest sodium, with 2.5g.

Predictably this was a pizza that had a pineapple or a fruit and a vegetable type topping rather than the processed meats.

In all, 94 per cent of the take away and supermarket bought pizzas tested were overloaded with salt.

Seafood and vegetarian-based pizzas considered the best of a bad bunch.

"Both take away and frozen pizzas had very high levels of salt, on average take away had slightly higher than the frozen store bought pizzas, but none of them are really what you would call a healthy option," Associate Professor Neal said.

"They're a treat, something that should be eaten occasionally."

But when it comes to our salt intake, pizzas are only part of the story.

About 10 per cent of the sodium we eat occurs naturally in foods like fish and meat.

We add a further 15 per cent during cooking or at the table.

Three-quarters of our yearly intake is hidden in the processed foods we buy at the supermarket.

Nutritionist Emma Sterling believes the best way to reduce your salt intake is by reading labels.

"Many snack foods are very high in salt intake so you really need to be watching what your kids are eating on a daily basis," she said.