title: Cross-sectional survey of salt content in cheese: a major contributor to salt intake in the UK.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the salt (sodium chloride) content in cheese sold in UK supermarkets.
  
  
  METHODS
  We carried out a cross-sectional survey in 2012, including 612 cheeses available in UK supermarkets.
  
  
  METHODS
  The salt content (g/100 g) was collected from product packaging and nutrient information panels of cheeses available in the top seven retailers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Salt content in cheese was high with a mean (±SD) of 1.7±0.58 g/100 g. There was a large variation in salt content between different types of cheeses and within the same type of cheese. On average, halloumi (2.71±0.34 g/100 g) and imported blue cheese (2.71±0.83 g/100 g) contained the highest amounts of salt and cottage cheese (0.55±0.14 g/100 g) contained the lowest amount of salt. Overall, among the 394 cheeses that had salt reduction targets, 84.5% have already met their respective Department of Health 2012 salt targets. Cheddar and cheddar-style cheese is the most popular/biggest selling cheese in the UK and has the highest number of products in the analysis (N=250). On average, salt level was higher in branded compared with supermarket own brand cheddar and cheddar-style products (1.78±0.13 vs 1.72±0.14 g/100 g, p<0.01). Ninety per cent of supermarket own brand products met the 2012 target for cheddar and cheddar-style cheese compared with 73% of branded products (p=0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Salt content in cheese in the UK is high. There is a wide variation in the salt content of different types of cheeses and even within the same type of cheese. Despite this, 84.5% of cheeses have already met their respective 2012 targets. These findings demonstrate that much larger reductions in the amount of salt added to cheese could be made and more challenging targets need to be set, so that the UK can continue to lead the world in salt reduction.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Kawther M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Hashem
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Feng J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Katharine H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Jenner
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Graham A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: MacGregor
mesh_terms: D002611:Cheese / Q000032:analysis*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary / Q000032:analysis*; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary
keywords: NUTRITION & DIETETICS; PUBLIC HEALTH
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