Some bread, as much salt as potato chips

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LONDON, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A British group tested 294 fresh and packaged loaves of bread from supermarkets and bakeries and found 28 percent had as much salt as potato chips.

Consensus Action on Salt & Health tested the salt content of the bread from supermarkets, their in-store bakeries, chain and independent bakeries and found that more than one in four loaves of bread contain as much salt, or even more, per slice than a packet of potato chips.

In addition, the department of health in Britain said bread is the largest contributor of salt to the diet, providing almost 18 percent of Britain's current daily salt intake.

The research by Consensus Action on Salt & Health found large variations in the salt content of bread. For example, Cranks Seeded Farmhouse contains nearly four times more salt than the lowest, a Marks & Spencer's Simply More Eat Well Healthiest White Bread.

Fresh breads available from in-store supermarket bakeries and independent bakeries have no nutritional labeling available, making it impossible for consumers either to choose lower salt options or to know how much salt they are eating, the groups said.

"It is the very high levels of salt that is hidden in everyday food, such as bread, that puts up both adults' and children's blood pressure," Professor Graham MacGregor of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine and chairman of CASH, said in a statement.