Eating Salad can be as Unhealthy as Eating Junk Food: Experts

Ready-to-eat salads contain more salt than a regular burger, warn experts.

Recently, the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) examined nutritional content in 650 salads sold in supermarkets, restaurants and fast food chains in the U.K. Experts at the charity organization found 77 percent of the commercially sold organic food had high levels of salt. These salads are unhealthier than eating salted snacks and junk food. Salads like crispy chicken and bacon salad had 1.3 grams of salt and 19 grams of fat compared to a burger with 1.2 grams of salt and 8 grams of fat.

The overall caloric content in ready to eat salads was 380 calories compared to 250 in fatty food. In addition, the researchers identified Pizza Express' Grand Chicken Caesar Salad had the highest salt content with 5.3 grams, which is as good as eating two and a half Big Macs. The sodium levels in salads are more than twice the maximum recommended levels of daily salt intake.

These food products are to be blamed for the surging incidence in heart diseases and deaths caused from hypertension and stroke. Surprisingly, CASH discovered even foods labeled and marketed as 'healthy superfood' for detox purposes had too much salt.

"Say the word 'salad' and you tend to imagine a bowl of healthy stuff nestled amongst some leaves, but that's not accurate," Sonia Pombo, a nutritionist at CASH, reports the Daily Mail.

"Whilst salad itself is both healthy and tasty, food manufacturers and restaurants continue to add unnecessary salt to the dish, which not only alters the taste and makes you feel bloated, but more seriously, can lead to high blood pressure - the main cause of strokes and heart attacks," she adds.

The 2010 survey report revealed many food manufacturers lowered salt addition in salads by 35 percent since 2005. Alarmed by the current findings, CASH officials plan to get all salad manufacturers to join the department of health's 2017 pledge to cut down salt content in food.

"It's not unreasonable to think that if you pick a salad it's going to be a healthy choice. But this survey shows in some cases what you see might not always be what you get. A colorful salad full of vegetables may look like a healthy way towards your 5-a-day but what you can't see is the salt content which, in some cases, could amount to almost a whole day's worth in one portion," said Victoria Taylor, senior Dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, reports the Telegraph.

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