Which would you chose: A pack of crisps or a hot chocolate?

Well if you’re trying to cut down on your salt intake, you’d select the hot chocolate right? Wrong.

The group called Consensus Action on Salt and Health carried out a study to determine which everyday food and drinks contained unhealthy levels of salt and other ingredients such as sugar or sucrose and they discovered that a number of leading brands of hot chocolate contained more salt than an average bag of crisps.

Galaxy Ultimate Marshmallow Hot Chocolate powder contained just over 0.6g of salt for every 25g serving. Admittedly this drink is not one you’d have every day and even the manufacturers Mars Chocolate defend it by saying it is an ‘indulgent treat’. Furthermore Mars added that the level of salt in the product came from ‘the intrinsic sodium in milk and other ingredients’ and that only a small amount was added to enhance the chocolately flavour.

If you’re in any doubt about the levels of salt and other ingredients in your drinks there is an app for your smartphone that can be downloaded. The FoodSwitch UK app is free and allows users to scan barcodes of packaged food and drinks. The app will show you in a traffic light format whether the product is considered healthy or unhealthy.