Health Tip
Sodium Savvy
By Jennifer Neily, M.S., R.D., L.D.
High blood pressure affects one out of three adults in America and is a prominent risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. There are several ways to prevent high blood pressure. The best approach is a comprehensive approach—reducing salt/sodium intake, eating a healthy diet such as the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension)* Eating Plan, maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol, quitting smoking, and being physically active.
Sodium vs. Salt
Americans consume an estimated 4,000 mg of sodium per day, nearly double the recommended amount. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans—in addition to other leading health organizations—recommend less than 2,300 mg per day and preferably less than 1,500 mg for those over 50 years of age.
It's important to note that salt and sodium are not the same. Salt is actually a combination of sodium and chloride (a teaspoon of salt is about 2,300 mg of sodium). The added salt in your diet accounts for a very small amount of your sodium intake. And salt is salt—kosher, sea salt, and rock salt don't vary.
The majority of sodium intake, 77 percent, comes from processed foods—canned vegetables and meats, boxed and flavored convenience foods, salad dressings and sauces, frozen prepared and convenience foods, seasoning blends, and fast foods and restaurant meals.
Taste Test
The taste of a food is not the best indicator of a food's sodium content. For example, does a slice of bread taste salty? No, but it has more sodium than an ounce (about a handful) of salted nuts. When sodium is baked or cooked within a product it is unnoticeable.
That's where food labels help out. All packaged foods are required to have a Nutrition Facts label which makes it much easier to understand the make-up of that food, especially sodium count. Then you can decide what is good for you and what is not. The Food and Drug Administration has established these label criteria:
· Sodium-free—less than 5 mg/serving.
· Very low sodium—less than or equal to 35 mg/serving.
· Low-sodium—less than 140 mg/serving.
· Light in sodium—sodium reduced by at least 50 percent as compared to the regular product.
· Reduced sodium—sodium reduced by 25 percent compared to the regular product.
· Unsalted—no salt added.
Be cautious with light and reduced sodium. If a product is 1,000 mg to start with, reducing 25 percent still makes it an extremely high sodium product.
Salt is easy to read on a label, but there may be other non-salt sources of sodium hidden among the ingredients. Be on the lookout for:
· Baking soda and baking powder
· Sodium alginate
· Sodium nitrate
· Disodium phosphate
· Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
The good news is we are not born liking salt. It's an acquired taste. The same way we learn to like salt, we can learn to "unlike" it as well.
10 Tips to Skip Sodium
1. Take the salt shaker off the table and don't add salt, seasoning salt, bouillon, broth, or garlic or onion salt in cooking.
2. Eat at home more often and eat foods in their most natural state—fresh fruits and vegetables, unprocessed, fresh lean meat, poultry, and fish.
3. Enhance the flavor of foods by using more herbs, spices, garlic, onion, lemon, lime, vinegar, and salt-free seasoning blends.
4. Read food labels.
5. Limit bottled sauces such as barbecue, soy, teriyaki, steak, chili, catsup, mustard, Worcestershire, and salsa. Tabasco is very low in sodium.
6. Season your own pasta and rice dishes. Avoid boxed convenience foods, which are generally very high in sodium.
7. Substitute vinegar (try flavored or balsamic) and oil for processed salad dressings (to keep calories low—drench with vinegar, drizzle with oil).
8. Check restaurant websites for nutrition information or websites like www.calorieking.com.
9. Work with a registered dietitian to learn low-sodium recipes and substitutions.
10. *Follow the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Eating Plan ( http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf).
Jennifer Neily, M.S., R.D., L.D., is a registered and licensed dietitian at Cooper Clinic in Dallas