A recent research has revealed that most processed foods contain high levels of salt; and sauces, spreads and processed meat are at the top of the list of foods with too much of the ingredients.

People who consume too much of salt in their daily diet have good chances of developing high blood pressure later in life, which further leads to an increase in the risk of suffering a heart attack.

In order to determine the level of sodium in processed foods, a team of researchers from The George Institute for International Health in Sydney, Australia, undertook a survey of the salt contents in various processed foods available across the country.

"The establishment of salt targets for all relevant products is the next step, and leading industry players within Australia have indicated a willingness to embark on this process. A national salt- reduction program has enormous potential to avert chronic disease through blood pressure lowering at a fraction of the cost of drug therapies for the management of hypertension (high blood pressure) and should be a national priority", the researchers noted.

Overall, researchers collected data on the salt content of 7,221 products across 10 food groups, 33 categories, and as many as 90 subcategories. In addition to discovering the high levels of salt, the team also found out the there were huge variations in the sodium content of different foods.