Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip - Salt Awareness

It is estimated that in the UK we consume around 8.4g of salt a day which is 40% more than the recommended 6g a day. Too much salt in your diet can have a negative effect on your health and can increase the risk of water retention, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and kidney disease. Here are some tips to help you reduce your salt intake: Reduce salt gradually By gradually reducing the amount of salt in your food, your taste buds will adapt over time. Try tasting your food before you add salt. You may find that your food is tasty enough. You could try experimenting with different flavours to replace added salt, such as herbs, spices, lemons, or limes. Check food labels Around 75% of the food we eat contains hidden salt. Food labels use a traffic light system, which allows us to see if a product contains a low (green), medium (amber), or high (red) amount of salt. Check the labels to see how much salt is in your food before you buy. Different brands of similar products contain varying amounts of salt, so look at the label and choose products that contain less salt. Salt is made up of sodium chloride and sometimes the label will list ‘sodium’ but not ‘salt’. You can work out how much salt is in a product by multiplying every 1g of sodium by 2.5. Make a swap Swap your high salt foods with foods lower in salt. Try snacking on fruit and vegetables, plain rice cakes, unsalted nuts and seeds or lower salt alternatives to your usual snacks. Foods such as processed meats, stock cubes, ready-made sauces and powdered soups can contain high amounts of salt. Try swapping these for lower salt versions or make your own soups, with little or no added salt. You can also reduce the amount of salt in your diet by having smaller portions of foods that are higher in salt. Adopting these tips can be challenging, but reducing your salt consumption gradually over time can help to reduce your risk of high blood pressure and coronary heart disease.

If you’d like to support Heart Research UK’s vital work into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease, please visit www.heartresearch.org.uk for inspiration on how you could help.

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at

www.heartresearch.org.uk/health-tips To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website:

heartresearch.org.uk/ heart-research-uk-recipes-2 Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers:

heartresearch.org.uk/ heart-research-uk-cookbook

Ten Unexpected Facts about Hay Fever

by Airborne Allergens Expert, Max Wiseberg

Hay fever or seasonal allergic rhinitis is an allergic reaction to pollen and other airborne allergens such as fungal spores. Most people who suffer from hay fever are allergic to grass pollen and many are allergic to tree pollen. The grass pollen season starts in May, and usually peaks in June and again in July, depending on the weather. Pollen counts tend to be higher on warm sunny days and lower on cloudy, rainy days. Here are 10 facts about hay fever that you may find surprising…

1HAY FEVER CAN AFFECT PEOPLE’S MENTAL HEALTH A major study from Taiwan found that hay fever sufferers have a significantly increased risk of psychiatric disorders[1] .

2DRIVING WITH HAY FEVER CAN SIGNIFICANTLY IMPAIR YOUR DRIVING A Berlin study’s authors claim that the condition is just as dangerous as getting behind the wheel with a blood alcohol level of 0.5 grams per litre[2] .

3FLOWERS ARE LESS LIKELY TO CAUSE HAY FEVER Hay fever is caused by airborne pollen particles that have blown away from the plant. However, flower pollen is sticky and coated, which lessens its ability to become airborne. In fact, trees and grass are most likely to cause the sneezing. But that doesn’t mean flowers don’t cause hay fever – some people are very allergic to specific flowers, and you can be allergic to more than one type of pollen.

4HAY FEVER RUNS IN THE FAMILY If parents suffer with allergies, their children are more likely to develop hay fever.

5USING A SIMPLE ORGANIC DRUG-FREE ALLERGEN BARRIER BALM CAN HELP! Independent university studies have shown that HayMax traps significantly more pollen than an uncoated nostril, and traps all types of grass and tree pollen[3] .

www.haymax.biz

6HAY FEVER HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HAY It’s pollen that’s the trigger for sufferers, predominantly grass pollen – as 95% of people are allergic to it.

7GROWING FEMALE PLANT VARIETIES IN YOUR GARDEN REDUCES POLLEN Male species are usually the pollen creators so avoid planting too many of them. Plant more females which not only don’t produce the pollen, but might even mop up some of the pollen produced elsewhere in your garden.

8CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING OUR HAY FEVER WORSE Higher carbon dioxide concentrations encourage plants to produce more pollen. Because of the changes in weather due to climate change, pollen is emerging earlier in the year and the hay fever season is getting ever longer, especially for those allergic to weed pollen.

9GOING FOR THE HOTTEST CURRY ON THE MENU can actually help your hay fever – or if you’re making your own, go heavy on the spices. Turmeric, an orange-yellow spice, widely used in curries and South Asian cuisine, is believed to reduce inflammation caused by the enzyme phospholipase A2, which is provoked into action by pollen in your system. 10SEXIST TREE PLANTING IS CAUSING MORE HAY FEVER There’s now more pollen in the air than ever before and one of the key reasons for this is that we’re all becoming increasingly botanically sexist! Many of us are choosing to plant more male plants than female ones, because male ones don’t grow fruit or seed pods. The massive explosion of pollen we’re currently experiencing has happened because female trees attract and trap pollen in order to create seeds and fruits, and without them, the pollen has nowhere to go. The fact that there are so many male trees just makes the issue even worse. I’ve been writing these columns for Lancashire & North West Magazine for over a year now and I hope you are finding them helpful, interesting and informative. I am always happy to hear any feedback so please feel free to contact me on max@haymax.biz

REFERENCES:

[1] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00133/full [2] https://www.ecarf.org/en/press/heuschnupfen-am-steuer-so-gefaehrlich-wie-alkohol/ [3] Chief Investigator: Professor Roy Kennedy, Principal Investigator: Louise Robertson,

Researcher: Dr Mary Lewis, National Pollen & Aerobiology Research Unit, 1st

February 2012.

I’M SARA, THE LYTHAM GIN LADY!

I escaped from teaching Chemistry and have spent the last four years making gin and my passion is now sharing information about everyone’s favourite juniper-based spirit as well as easy to make cocktails using some of my awardwinning products.

Strawberry Gin Smash

This is a great drink for anyone who doesn’t like tonic and can be made sweeter by adding more sugar syrup. In a tall glass, muddle* the mint leaves and gin, add lime juice and sugar syrup. Stir, add ice and strawberries, and top up with soda water. Garnish with lime. (*Muddle = mix roughly with a spoon to bruise the mint leaves) Try using any gin, sweet or dry, in this recipe, adjusting the sugar syrup to taste.

Ingredients:

• 50ml Strawberry & Lime Gin

• 20ml Fresh Lime Juice

• Sprig of Mint

• Two Sliced Strawberries

• Slice of Lime

• Dash of Sugar Syrup

• Soda Water

• Ice

This month we celebrate World Gin Day on June 11th. Founded in 2009 by Emma Stokes (AKA The Gin Monkey) it has become popular around the globe.

Our love of gin dates back many hundreds of years and the spirit has a colourful past, falling in and out of favour throughout its history. Its resurgence in 2009 started with Sipsmith who pioneered craft distilling which has resulted in well over 800 new distilleries springing up over the past thirteen years. If you are a gin lover, then the second Saturday in June is the perfect opportunity to try something new.

I’ve created two new cocktail recipes which are certain to please everyone.

Pegu Club

Created in the 1930’s in Burma, this is a firm favourite amongst cocktail connoisseurs around the world. A perfect choice for World Gin Day! It’s a traditional ‘Gin Sour’. Place all of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake hard until your hands are cold. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a twist of lime. To make this drink extra-fancy for World Gin Day, dip the rim of the glass in lime juice and then sugar.

Ingredients:

• 50ml Original Lytham Gin

• 35ml Orange Liqueur

• 2 Drops of Angostura’s Bitters

• 25ml Fresh Lime Juice

• Ice

• Twist of Lime