The British Heart Foundation has developed a wallet-sized card to help shoppers decipher food labels. The free "ready reckoner" card explains if the levels of fat, salt and sugar in manufactured food are healthy or not. Eating a diet that is low in fat, salt and sugar, and high in fruit and vegetables can help to reduce the risk of developing heart disease by keeping cholesterol, blood pressure and weight at healthy levels.

But it is not always easy to make sense of the wealth of nutritional information printed on food labels.

And not all food manufacturers and retailers use the new traffic light system, which grades food red, amber or green according to their ingredients - many have adopted the Guideline Daily Amounts system.

The BHF's new card, which is attached to every copy of the latest issue of its Heart Health magazine, can help shoppers translate between labels, using a simple grid to see if food has the green light for health, whatever system it uses.

Nicki Cooper, head of Heart Health at the BHF, said, "Eating healthily is a vital investment in your short and long-term health - and it needn't be difficult.

"Pop this little card in your wallet and you'll always be able to work out if the food you want to buy is good for you.

"Aim to pick lots of food with green on the nutrition label, a handful of ambers and the occasional red."

Many processed foods, such as bread and soup, can have unhealthy amounts of salt, fat and sugar hidden in them.

Figures show that in Great Britain, women eat an average 8.1g of salt a day and men eat an average 11g - well above the Food Standard Agency's maximum recommended limit of 6g a day.

Ms Cooper added, "Many of us have a diet that can contribute to heart disease, which tragically claims one in four lives in the UK every year."

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