The same order placed at a fast food restaurant in America and Europe can vary significantly in salt content, according to a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
The salt content of the breadcrumbs of chicken, popular among fast-fooders, is 2,5 times higher in the USA than in the same portion bought in Great Britain.
This shows that it is a matter of goodwill whether fast food chains will reduce the amount of salt added to meals, emphasizes the author of the report, Dr. Norman Campbell of the University of Alberta, Canada.
In response, McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud said restaurants in the United States have already reduced the salt level in chicken products by 10%, and by 2015 they intend to reduce the salt content of all their products by 15%.
Canadians compared information on the composition of more than 2. products sold by six chains (Burger King, Domino’s Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Subway) in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Campbell points out that if fast food chains were to gradually reduce the salt content of their products (e.g. by 5-10% per year), customers would not even notice it, and it would help to reduce an important modifiable factor of heart disease.
According to the latest report of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States, nine out of ten people consume salt in excess of the recommended dose.