Another day, another study.

Well they were due.

Campaigners warn over salt levels in bread

Campaign for Action on Salt and Health (Cash), which looked at 300 breads, said it was "outrageous" that bread contained even the current level.

(I'm sure they mean consensus action.)
We've had a number of alcohol scares in the press recently. In fact, Alcohol Concern have been quite busy recently, as have the fatty haters.

Funds must be dwindling, and let no one suggest that CASH aren't on top of things too.

A third of breads contain more salt than recommended under guidelines being introduced next year, a survey found.
Most breads were within the current guidelines of 1.1g of salt per 100g - but this is being cut to 1g per 100g.

See that slippery slope in action there? When companies conform to the 'guidlines', change the guidelines.

Salt levels in bread have fallen by about a third over the past decade, with some falling by up to 40%.
But Cash says levels are still too high, and warns there is wide variation in the amount found in loaves.
Most are within half a gram of the current target of 1.1g of salt per 100g of bread - about two thick slices. But Cash found some significantly exceeded it.

These people will never be satisfied. Salt levels continue to fall but it's never enough. Fortunately for them, bread needs salt. Loaves of bread on the shelves will never be completely salt free, so CASH can continue to campaign against 'hidden salt' ad infinitum. Kerchiiing!

Cash chairman Prof Graham MacGregor, of the Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine, said: "It is frankly outrageous that bread still contains so much salt.

Frankly outrageous? These people love their hard hitting words that have been twisted to mean new things.

Outrageous.

"going beyond all standards of what is right or decent"

"The Department of Health needs to ensure that all bread is clearly labelled and that all manufacturers reduce the salt of bread to less that the salt target of 1g per 100g.
"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."

And once draconian legislation has been enforced and all manufacturers reduce salt levels in bread to 1g, the target will then be reduced to 0.8g just so these leeches can keep seeking rents. By that time our bread will taste like wet paper pulp.

People will be baking their own bread along with their home brew and home grown tobacco. (Eh, Leg Iron?)

But Federation of Bakers director Gordon Polson said: "The majority of wrapped, sliced bread available already meets the 2012 targets and our members are continuing to endeavour to reduce salt by contributing to ongoing research to establish which other means are available to reduce salt in bread.

British Retail Consortium food director Andrew Opie said retailers and manufacturers are to fund independent research to look for ways of meeting the 2012 target - "while still making foods which consumers want to buy".

What all that means is that bread needs salt. If the manufacturers are going to reduce salt any further, they need to find some new technology to acheive that. Otherwise, all bread will taste shit and nobody will buy it. Cue home baking and even higher salt levels.

Why does bread need salt?

Salt is used in most bread recipes to control the rate of fermentation and to give flavour. The presence of salt in a dough inhibits fermentation, which strengthens the developing gluten. This results in a bread with a stable crumb, a long shelf-life and more taste than breads without it.

It is not only because it gives the necessary flavour, or rather corrects insipidity, that salt is so important to bread. It is also in the context of its action on the yeast and the dough during the fermentation or rising period, and for its ultimate effect on the baked loaf, particularly the crust, that salt has to be considered.

Now I'm no baker but that sounds like salt is a particularly important part of bread to me.

Salt is also a very important part of your diet. 90% of the human body is made of water, as we all know. What the cretins at CASH fail to understand is that it isn't pure water, but salt water.

When you sweat, you loose water that needs to be replaced, but you also loose salt. A person who exercises regularly or works in a hot environment needs a higher salt intake in order to replace what they loose.

Government recommendations of 6g per day are just as arbitry as the recomended number of alcohol units or fat intake.

People are different and these one size fits all daily recommendations are useless. If somebody who sweats a great deal were to follow the daily allowance religiously it would do them a lot more harm than good.

Got to keep seeking those rents though.