Graham MacGregor, who is professor of cardiovascular medicine at St George’s Hospital, in south London, is an expert on salt. In the past, concern about salt intake has focused mainly on the middle-aged with high blood pressure and heart trouble, but according to MacGregor all of us are eating too much salt, and the consequences for our health could be dramatic. “On average we are eating 10-12 grams of salt a day,” he says. “The recommended maximum intake for an adult is 5-6 grams (one flat teaspoonful). Ninety per cent of the population exceed that, which is the major cause of strokes and heart attacks in this country. It’s a very major problem. “If we did reduce total salt intake by the recommended amounts, it would save approximately 30,000 heart attacks and strokes in the UK every year.”