High salt content in ready meals

Consumption center: Still too high salt content in ready meals

03.02.2012

The Verbraucherzentrale NRW criticizes the high salt content in microwave ready meals. This resulted in an investigation of consumer advocates. But too much salt is detrimental as it benefits hypertension.

Too much salt causes high blood pressure
According to a study by the consumer center NRW is still too much salt in ready meals included. Already one and a half years ago, a similar study would have shown that 98 percent of tested ready meals contained too much salt. „Many manufacturers ignore the recommendations of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment and have even increased the amount of salt in their courts“, criticize the consumer advocates.

A daily dose of six grams of salt should not be exceeded, but this amount is already included in a microwave cooking meal. Who takes too much table salt, endangers his health. Salt in particular affects the blood pressure unfavorable.

The consumer center NRW also criticizes that on many packages of ready meals no or imprecise information on salt content are listed. In the European Union, such information is only required from 2016, although this should urgently be the case according to the consumer protection.

Risk factor hypertension
Who takes too much salt, risking high blood pressure and thus numerous complications. Dr. Wolfgang Karmann, chief physician at the Kitzinger Land Clinic, reports about ten million Germans who suffer from hypotension. Many of you are not aware of the disease. But an untreated high blood pressure brings in the long term considerable health risks, so that here urgently education work is necessary, emphasizes Dr. med. Karmann.

Frequently unspecific symptoms include mild headaches, sudden heat spurts, heart pains, palpitations, and similar ailments. The hypertension leads in some patients initially even more to an increase in vitality, while the state of health due to hypertension gradually getting worse, according to the statement of the chief physician of the clinic Kitzinger Land. An untreated high blood pressure, the blood vessels become brittle, narrow or close and threaten serious diseases such as heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and blindness, warns the physician. (Ag)

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Image: Sybille Daden