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Salt is made up of 2 minerals, sodium and chloride. One teaspoon of salt has 40% sodium and 60% chloride, or approximately 2,000 milligrams of sodium. It’s the sodium we’re concerned about.
For every gram of salt that Americans reduce in their daily diets, it is estimated there would be 250,000 fewer cases of heart disease and 200,000 fewer deaths in the next 10 years. Currently, Americans eat 9 to 12 grams of salt a day. Five to 6 grams is the lower desirable target. This would reduce sodium levels to between 2,000 and 2,400 milligrams a day, in line with the recommendations for the US Dietary Guidelines.
But some experts argue it’s not the sodium that causes high blood pressure and heart disease. They feel it may be the chloride portion of salt that raises blood pressure even more than sodium. Others argue that even if sodium is reduced, to effectively lower high blood pressure people need to have higher intakes of calcium and potassium.
Many factors contribute to the development of high blood pressure – genetics, advancing age, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, stress, smoking, and excessive intakes of alcohol and salt. When you look at this list and consider the average American, many are at risk.
In fact, a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that slightly more than 69% of adults belong to an at-risk group that would benefit from sodium reduction as low as 1,500 milligrams a day. This group includes those already diagnosed with high blood pressure, African Americans, and anyone 40 or older.
Ninety-five percent of American adults exceed the recommended upper limit of sodium intake every day and 90% of adult Americans are at risk for high blood pressure as they get older. In places where little salt is used, blood pressure does not go up with age as it does in the U.S. Logic would say if you eat less salt you can prevent high blood pressure. Population studies provide evidence that this is true
When people are told to eat less sodium, their first reaction is to empty the salt shaker and stop adding salt in cooking. This isn’t the best approach because dumping the salt shaker reduces your salt intake by less than 10%. Cutting down on processed foods will make a bigger dent in your sodium intake. What are processed foods? Prepared salad dressing, jarred tomato sauce, canned tuna, marinated fresh meat and poultry, cake mixes, pickles, pretzels, frozen dinners, desserts, canned soup, microwave meals, deli meats, hot dogs – just to name a few. Restaurant foods also contribute a large portion of our daily sodium intake.
Giving up salt isn’t easy. Many experts believe that healthy adults could do nicely on as little as 500 milligrams of sodium a day. That may be healthy, but would we consider it tasty?
To lighten up on salt here are some sensible solutions.
Don’t add salt to restaurant or take-out foods.
Use naturally low sodium, fresh fruits and vegetables, or plain frozen vegetables to complement take-out or prepared entrees.
Check the nutrition label – keep snacks and single-serving foods under 400 milligrams a serving; keep main dishes under 600 milligrams a serving.
Try some low sodium or “no salt added” choices, you might be pleasantly surprised at the taste.
Fresh salads are naturally low in sodium; just go easy on the dressing.
Plain frozen vegetables are lower in sodium than sauced and seasoned varieties.
Almost all frozen vegetables are lower in sodium than canned vegetables.
Try baldy pretzels and unsalted nuts.
Reduce salt in recipes by half – swapping a ½ teaspoon of salt for 1 teaspoon saves 1,000 milligrams of sodium.
Rinse canned beans, vegetables, sauerkraut, and tuna to reduce the sodium by almost half.
Don’t add salt when cooking rice, pasta, or hot cereal.
Use fresh pepper or herbs to flavor food instead of salt.
When you eat a high salt/sodium choice, balance it with lower sodium choices later in the day.
Did you know? One teaspoon of table salt equals 2,000 milligrams of sodium.
Coarser salts, such as kosher salt and sea salt, average between 1,100 and 1,900 milligrams sodium per teaspoon.
For the sodium value in over 20,000 foods look for The Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., Pocket Books, 2009.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with 12 current titles and sales in excess of 7 million books. The books are widely available at your local or on-line bookseller.
Current titles include:
The Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2009
The Fat Counter, 7th ed., 2009
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
The Cholesterol Counter, 7th Ed., 2008
The Diabetes Carbohydrate and Calorie Counter, 3rd Ed., 2007
The Calorie Counter, 4th Ed., 2007
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to The Nutrition Experts
www.HealthNewsDigest.com
