Cooking healthy recipes from scratch on Christmas Day ‘should cut salt intake’

Rather than stocking up on pre-cooked foods in time for Christmas Day, it could be a good idea to be prepared and look up healthy recipes to make from scratch yourself.

Consensus Action on Salt & Health (Cash) warns that your annual festive meal may contain a whopping 15g of salt, more than twice the recommended daily intake.

This is especially likely if you use things like ready-cooked turkeys and bags of vegetables that just need to be warmed up, as the manufacturers often add lots of salt during the production process.

However, if you roast your turkey and boil your veg at home, it will mean you only consume a trace of the mineral, making your dinner much healthier.

Chairman of Cash Professor Graham MacGregor commented: "It is the very high levels of salt that are hidden in our food that puts up both adults' and children's blood pressure, so look after yourself and your whole family this Christmas."

Too much salt can lead to heart attacks, kidney disease, osteoporosis and increased blood pressure, Cash's Hannah Brinsden warned earlier in 2011.

Are you determined to use healthy recipes for a homemade Christmas dinner?