If you’ve been trying to reduce the amount of sodium you eat, you’ve likely cut back on how often you reach for the salt shaker. But the thing about sodium is how easily it sneaks into your diet, usually in packaged and processed foods, and how quickly a dash here and there can add up. The problem is so wide reaching that New York City’s health department recently campaigned to reduce the amount of salt commonly found in foods, like soup and pasta sauce.
How Does Salt Affect Us?
Eating a lot of salt, found often in processed foods, is directly linked to higher risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease. Too much salt raises blood pressure, and high blood pressure raises the risk of having heart disease. A recent analysis showed that eating half a teaspoon less of salt a day would prevent 92,000 deaths, 99,000 heart attacks, and 66,000 strokes. That would be a benefit as good as quitting smoking.
Still, salt has its place. Your body needs some sodium to function properly: to help maintain a balance of fluids in your body, to transmit nerve impulses, and to influence the contraction and relaxation of muscles. When sodium levels are low, your kidneys conserve sodium and when levels are high, they excrete an excess amount in urine. But when your kidneys can’t eliminate enough sodium, the sodium begins to accumulate in your blood, in turn increasing blood pressure which could lead to cardiovascular and kidney diseases.
According to the American Heart Association, the average healthy adult should eat less than 2,300 milligrams (about a teaspoon) of sodium a day. Some people, including African Americans, people with a family history of high blood pressure and older adults, could benefit from a diet that doesn’t exceed 1,500 milligrams a day. However, the average American adult consumes 4,000 to 6,000 milligrams of sodium a day.
Hidden Salt
About 11 percent of sodium in an average US diet comes from adding salt to foods when cooking or before eating. Perhaps surprising, nearly 80 percent of sodium comes from eating prepared or processed foods that contain high amounts of salt. So, even if you’re diligent about not adding salt to food, that food could already be quite high in sodium.
Food manufacturers use sodium to preserve or improve the taste or texture of foods. This includes foods, such as canned soups, sauces, salad dressings, cold cuts, and frozen foods. Condiments also often contain large amounts of salt. For instance, a tablespoon of ketchup has up to 190 mg of sodium (and it’s rare that a person uses only one tablespoon), and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce has a whopping 900 to 1,000 mg of sodium. Lastly, sodium occurs naturally in some foods, such as meats, poultry, dairy products and vegetables.
How to Cut Back On Salt
It can be difficult to identify foods high in sodium, since some might not taste salty but still contain high amounts. To help cut back on eating too much salt, particularly if you have high blood pressure, start reading nutrition food labels carefully. You’ll probably be surprised by what you learn. Reduce or eliminate how much salt you use when preparing foods. Look for low-sodium products, and limit the saltiest of foods, like processed meats, some condiments (salad dressings, dips, ketchup), and salty snack foods. Use herbs, spices, and other flavoring to enhance the taste of foods. And eat more fresh fruits and veggies and fewer high sodium-laden processed foods.
New York City Takes On Salt
Recently, the New York City health department has called on the food industry and restaurants to cut back on the salt they put into their foods. For the initiative, New York has recruited public health agencies and medical groups across the country with the goal of cutting salt intake by at least 20 percent in five years. The plan is modeled after one recently carried out in Britain where salt has voluntarily been reduced in many prepared foods. The NYC health department previously banned artificial trans fats and required that chain restaurants post calorie counts.
One major question exists: How much involvement should the government have in people’s dietary habits? The prospect of government regulating salt content bothers some people, and critics have said not everyone is sensitive to salt. Others who support the regulation contend that if someone wants more salt, they can add it to the food themselves. And many health and medical experts say the evidence is very strong that salt needs to be reduced, and support the campaign that restaurants and food manufacturers cut back on salt.
For now, the campaign’s results are unknown. But those looking to shake their salt habit can take on their own campaign by reducing the amount of sodium brought into the home.
