Weekend Edition Hot off the Press #10: Salt: It's What's for Dinner

Next time you go to eat, check those nutrition facts. Salt is in many of the packaged foods available out there. Even something as simple as a home-prepared sandwich can send your sodium levels soaring.

We've previously reported on salt; it's used for food preservation, taste, and nutrition. However, the USDA recently released new dietary guidelines that now recommend a lower salt intake for certain "at-risk" groups. These groups include African Americans, people over the age of 51, and people with diabetes, high blood pressure, or chronic kidney disease. People in these groups tend to have blood pressure levels that are more sensitive to sodium. It's recommended that they only consume 1,500 mg a day compared to the 2,300 mg advised for the general population.

Why the change? According to the USDA, a growing body of research suggests that your blood pressure decreases as you eat less sodium. The recommended sodium levels are based on a study called "Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-Sodium trial" conducted by the National Institutes of Health. The study found that aiming for a sodium intake of 2,300 mg reduced the average blood pressure of the participants. Blood pressure was lowered even further when participants tried to eat just 1,200 mg of sodium a day.

High blood pressure is a big concern when putting together these recommendations because it's a large, contributing factor in cardiovascular disease, congestive heart failure, and kidney disease. Despite the USDA's maintained recommendation of 2,300 mg of sodium a day for the general population, health groups like the American Heart Association still recommend that you eat no more than 1,500 mg of salt each day, even if you are not in one of the mentioned "at-risk" groups.

So how can you lower the amount of sodium you're ingesting each day? Of course, be conscious of labels and nutrition facts on packaged foods. However, high-sodium foods are not always to blame. Remember that a sprinkle of salt here and there in your own home-cooked meals can add up over the day. Just ¼ tsp. of salt is 500 mg of sodium. That's a third of your total daily intake! The USDA notes that frequently eating foods that are low in sodium can still contribute to excess ingestion. About 7% of the sodium in the U.S. diet is from yeast-breads and 5% is from pasta. Did you expect that?

Overall, these new recommendations are emphasizing the impact that excess sodium can have on the human body. Whether you have high blood pressure now or not, monitoring your salt intake is now just as important as eating the correct amount of calories or staying on top of how much fat you consume.

By Julia L.  

Weekend Edition Hot off the Press #1: Salt to taste

This is the first edition of our weekend health awareness segment.  Every weekend we will be discussing health topics that we have encountered in our food reviews.  This weeks topic…SODIUM!

Sodium is important to have in our diet.  According to Dr. George Obikoya in his article titled The Benefits of Sodium, sodium helps maintain balance of ions in our body fluids and tissues and it stimulates muscle contraction.  (http://www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vitamins/sodium.html)  We of course can’t forget that sodium chloride, better known as salt, is also one of our favorite flavor additives and is one of the main contributors of sodium content.  Sodium can be tricky…too much sodium can lead to kidney disease and high blood pressure, but too little sodium can lead to malnutrition.  As we have been taste testing all of these gluten-free foods we have been paying more attention to the nutrition facts on the packaging.  What you find might surprise you.

So how much sodium should a healthy person really be ingesting to stay healthy?  According to the American Heart Association, you should aim to ingest no more than 1,500mg of sodium per day. (http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4708)  That translates into just a little more than half a teaspoon of salt.  Doesn’t seem like much. 

The other day, I was at the grocery store shopping and decided that I wanted to buy packaged deli meat and cheese to make a sandwich.  What I found surprised me…it actually scared me.  I saw that 1 slice of lunchmeat had 240mg of sodium and then I looked at the cheese slice and saw that it contained 250mg of sodium per slice.  I usually make a sandwich with 2-3 slices of meat and a slice of cheese and calculating the sodium in that is already 730-970mg of sodium depending if I use 2 or 3 slice of lunchmeat.  I’m not even including the sodium content of the bread and the mustard in my calculation and I’m already practically at my sodium intake limit for the day.  Needless to say, I tossed the idea of making a sandwich out the window. 

So what about those packages that say low sodium or reduced sodium?  Are those safe?  Well yes and no.  The important thing to do is to look at the numbers and make sure you understand them.  Pay close attention to the serving size.  Some of the serving sizes are ridiculously low and, if you aren’t aware of it, you may end up eating 5 or 10 servings in a sitting.  Also keep in mind that they base everything on a 2000 calorie diet and the sodium percentages are based on 2300mg, which is higher than the 1500mg that the American Heart Association recommends to aim for.  The American Heart Association website gives the meaning to all of the sodium content terms:

• Sodium-free – less than 5mg per serving
• Very low-sodium – 35mg or less per serving
• Low-sodium – 140mg or less per serving
• Reduced sodium – usual sodium level is reduced by 25%
• Unsalted, no salt added or without added salt – contains only the sodium that is naturally part of the food. 

Bottom line, we all love the taste of salty foods, but make sure you know what you are eating.  It may not seem like you are ingesting large amounts of salt, but you really never know.    

*I am not a nutritionist and this information is not meant to professional health advice.  You should always consult an expert before changing your diet.