Wednesday 21 March 2018

Hot chocolate serving 'has more salt than packet of crisps'

What I read

In “Hot chocolate serving 'has more salt than packet ofcrisps'”(2017), Some instant hot chocolate powder are exceeded in salt. Although manufacturer said that exceeded salt came from sodium in milk, ingredients add for increasing chocolate flavor and “drink was an indulgent treat”, but the government of Public Health England doesn’t agree with. Actually, The Department of Health has set the target to reduce salt in food since 2014. But, it doesn’t reach the goal now. In a mean while, researchers use application on smartphone named ‘FoodSwitch UK app’ to reveal nutritional information. They found that many products from many commercial brands have exceeded salt more than recommended quantity per day.

The best way to contain less salt is to check the nutrition labels first.

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My response 

This is the sad news for me, because I’m the fan of hot chocolate. I have heard about exceeded salt or sodium in food for a while but I didn’t aware of them due to they have good taste. I feel relaxed when I eat sweet, fatty, and salty food. These tastes will be dangerous if you take them over proper quantity.

I have heard researchers said that popular foods have one common thing. It is proper proportion of sugar, salt, and fat. It makes you feel pleased and satisfied. That’s why manufacturer said that hot chocolate was an indulgent treat.

Good for heart but not good for health. The government concerns about their people’s health. So they try to control amount of salt in food by control producers.
But I think it should control from both sides – producer and customer. Producer must be aware of producing exceeded salt in food and Consumer should choose healthier food for them.

Sometimes we don’t know how to choose healthy food, we only know this dish is delicious or not. It’s a good idea to use technology solves the problem. For this issue we have smartphone application. The application helps us know about nutritional information and helps us choose the healthier food. It’s much more easier to be healthy in this year 2018. I think I will download it and use it but I’m not sure it will work or not in Thailand local supermarket. Actually, no need to use application to choose healthy food, I think it makes sense and it is obvious. For example, when you walk into supermarket, most people know that fruit is healthier than crisps without using any technology.

All I want to say is that to be a healthy person doesn’t depend on technology, government, or manufacturers. It depends on your decision and your mouth.
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My question

What is your eating behavior and do you have any idea to reduce salt intake?
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Reference

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12 comments:

  1. Anonymous21 March 2018 at 19:57

    I would say that i just realize the fact that maybe we consume excessive amount of salts.Hot chocolate really? How am i supposed to reduce my salts intake as even drinks contain so much of salt. Maybe we addict to flavorful dishes too much,so we add a lot of salts just to please our tongue. At the end of the day, Health is all that matter, and "You are what you eat" is still usable. From now on, self-indulgence should be somehow reduced, and take wholesomeness into account.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous22 March 2018 at 00:08

    I'm surprised with it. I don't think hot chocolate has salt I think it has only coco powder, sugar and milk. Thank you for your story it makes me know why I drink hot chocolate I will thirsty. And I agree with you for people should read label before choosing to eat food.

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    Replies
    1. Peter AUA23 March 2018 at 11:38

      Like Mon, I was surprised to learn that hot chocolate contains salt. It's not a problem for me because I don't like hot chocolate, although I do love chocolate. But the chocolate I like is plain dark chocolate, with little of no sugar added.

      My usual drink is coffee, and it's safe because I usually make it at home, never adding sugar or salt. I wonder: if some companies add salt to hot chocolate, is coffee also contaminated in that way? It would seem weird to me to add salt to coffee, but that's what I had thought about hot chocolate until I read Pao's blog post.

      Then again, I was surprised when i first came to Thailand to find that salt was often added to the orange juice freshly squeezed for sale on the streets. I like that now. I don't want the vendors adding sickly sweet sugar, but a pinch of salt is fine.

      Delete
  3. Unknown22 March 2018 at 20:15

    First of all it is surprising me that hot chocolate contain salt more than crisps. However, luckily I don't like it much.

    In addition, it also surprising me that there are many news concerning about salty foods nowadays. We both pick salty foods relate news. Last week I wrote blog about Chinese salty foods. They have a good idea that reading nutrition label before eating somethings would be a great solution to tackle this problem. Moreover, I agree that not only customer but also producer and government should help together.

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  4. Anonymous22 March 2018 at 21:34

    I am the person who really really love chocolate bars even I know that they are not good to my health, but I cannot stop eating them. I know that chocolate is consisted of a little salt, but I never think that it is too much to aware. I agree with you that people can choose to have foods, and it does not only on the application providing diet information but also find on every packaging.

    I always like to have Japanese food that is because I like salty taste. I will try to decrease to consume salty foods in my every meals.

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  5. Unknown23 March 2018 at 05:24

    I am pitty sad to read this new because I am a chocolate lover. I always think that it has only fat and sugar thus I never known that chocolate also has salt. I like your sentence that "good for heart, not good for health"; it emphazises my quoate that "You are what you eat". This year I alwals reduce sugar consumption and I keep in mind that "sugar is prison" before I order some green tea latte or chocolate milk l. This sentence makes me decrease to order any sweet beverage.

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    Replies
    1. Peter AUA23 March 2018 at 11:44

      Although my family's main business for the last half century has been sugar cane, I agree that "sugar is poison." Fortunately, I don't have much of a sweet tooth. But as I commented above on Mon's comment, I do like chocolate. I recommend plain, dark chocolate with little or no added sugar. It's not only healthy, but you get the full, rich chocolate flavour. I like ones that are 90% cocoa.

      My weakness is chocolate cake, which has a very high sugar content. But I don't think it's the government's business to be dictating what consumers can choose to eat, even if they make bad choices. I think taxes on sugary drinks and other unhealthy products are as bad as criminalising drugs like marijuana and heroin.

      Delete
    2. Unknown23 March 2018 at 19:06

      According to Peter's comment made me have a second thought because I just wrote a supporting opinion about taxes on sugar that Norway has. I thought it is a good idea to help people avoiding obesity. On the other hand, I also agree that limit people consumption is bad like criminalising drugs. Thinking about children would not be able to eat candies as much as they wanted to is kind of harmful. However I think it will be alternative way which is also effective like sugar taxes.

      Delete
  6. Peter AUA23 March 2018 at 11:49

    As I was writing my reply to Gaii's comment, another thought came to my mind related to Pom's ideas in his post above on brain computer interfaces. If governments interfere in personal decisions by adults merely because their decisions are bad for those adults, thus reducing productivity, then the government is treating citizens like robots whose only value is as a tool of economic production, and that seems seriously bad to me. I think we should worry about health and so on, but the government is wrong to use laws, taxes and so on to force citizens to be healthy for the sake of the economic wealth of others. We are not mindless robots whose sole purpose it fill the demands of those in power.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peter AUA23 March 2018 at 11:51

      Oops - the last sentence should be " ... whose sole purpose is to fill the demands of those in power."

      I should have reviewed before hitting "Publish."

      Delete
    2. Anonymous23 March 2018 at 12:58

      I think it's double-edged sword. I see your point that too much interference from government seems like a bit dictatorship. But if they cut it loose and let's many bad decisions happen too much, many problems will follow like domino effects.

      I think the think they do is quite proper to me. Boosting citizen's awareness and regulate every product to have nutritional labels. That seems good to me - not too strict and not too loose.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous23 March 2018 at 20:55

    This article is similar to the last's week article that one of our classmates posted in the blog too. I would say that I am so surprised again that there is a lot of salt in chocolate powder. I did not believe it at the first time when I read it since I love hot chocolate and its taste is awesome. It is not salty at all that why I love it. Thank you for posting the good article. So, I can be aware of drinking a lot of hot chocolate in the future and will read a nutrition label before eating and drinking

    ReplyDelete

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