Scientists find a way to make crisps taste salty with less of the salt that causes obesity

Reduced-salt foods can be healthier, but they are not known for being tasty because they are low in sodium.

But scientists now claim to have a way to keep the taste of salt – without actually containing too much of the bad kind.

Tasters agreed the mix, which contains less sodium chloride, was just as enjoyable and similar to the traditional salt blend.

The new mix is ​​made up of almost a quarter of calcium chloride – which is not thought to be harmful to human health.

Scientists at Washington State University have found a way to make taste salty crisps – without the salt. It could be the end of a bad tasting reduced-salt crisps

Too much sodium can raise blood pressure, which can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. It is not a direct cause of obesity.

Carolyn Ross, a food scientist at Washington State University, created the salt mix with a team of colleagues.

She said: 'It's a stealth approach, not like buying the reduced salt' option, which people generally do not like.

'If we can stair-step people down, then we increase health while still making food that people want to eat.'

Professor Ross and her team looks at salt that uses less sodium chloride, which is used every day.

They looked at other salts like calcium chloride and potassium chloride, both of which have no known adverse health effects.

Potassium can help reduce blood pressure, but it's not easy to use it.

'Potassium chloride, especially, tastes really bitter and really do not like it,' Professor Ross said.

For the study of salt and water in a salt solution

The team wanted to assess how much they could not replace tasty.

They discovered the tasters a combination of 78 per cent sodium chloride and 22 per cent calcium chloride.

'This combination of the two salts, Professor Ross said.

But she added 'consumer acceptance decreased' when potassium chloride was thrown into the mix. The results were published in Journal of Food Science.

The average person in the UK is thought to be around. 8.1g salt a day, despite NHS recommendations of no more than 6g, or one teaspoon, a day.

Guidelines in the US are similar, recommending less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium – an element in salt that equates to around 6g of salt.

Up to 90 per cent of American adults eat more sodium than is recommended, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, averaging more than 3,400 mg.

People have started to eat less salt over the last decade, however, thanks to the food industry is gradually reformulating the products on shelves.

Gradual reductions in salt over a period of time to be the best way to reduce salt consumption.

Action on Salt claims that for every gram of salt removed from the average UK diet 4,000 lives can be saved from heart disease.