The Politics of SALT
 

Keeping sodium levels below the maximum RDA of 2,300 mg. is unbelievably difficult. I'm thankful I don't have high blood pressure, but since I've transitioned to my new lifestyle change I've started tracking this mineral. It's also difficult to get the minimum amount of potassium, even though I'm eating a lot of fruits and vegetables (staying within my calorie budget).

I don't understand the politics. The government can act to eliminate Trans Fats yet it seems oblivious to fixing the problem of excess NaCl in our foods. Everyone is well aware that most Americans are getting excessive amounts of sodium and not enough potassium in their diets.

There appears to be an easy fix, one that I've just started using personally. There's a "Lite Salt" which is 50% NaCl and 50% KCl. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but it's not difficult. The rub with the potassium chloride is that it has a "metallic aftertaste". But in this ratio, it's fine in my opinion.

So I wonder "Why can't the government require the food industry to start using a product like this, one that would halve the sodium and increase the potassium of everything we eat/drink?"

Just think of the health benefits! While the cost of the salt mixture would be greater, less could be used because it is more "salty". It appears that the cost would not be prohibitive, yet the benefits would be tremendous.

Does anyone else think that it's time that Americans started pushing politicians to look into this matter?

Hi Vito,

This thread may become more political than we want it to, but I'll put in my two cents. I question the effectiveness and appropriateness of approaching this problem by legislation.

I think economic means are likely to work faster and better, what you buy communicates well, and if the demand develops, manufacturers will respond.

I'm nervous about getting an "inappropriate footwear" ticket if I go out without boots in the snow, and I see that as likely where I live (Massachusetts). Don't want to give the government too much power over personal decisions.

Many different views will exist on this, this one is merely mine!

Abby

Hi Vito,
Yes, canned and otherwise processed food does have a ton of salt in it, as do many restaurant meals. One of the main reasons is that salt is a flavor enhanser. Foods that are mostly precooked and then preserved by freezing and canning tend to lose thier flavor, so the processors add salt to beef up the taste. KCl doesn't have the same effect. Not that I'm defending them, just explaining the reasons.

Over the years consumer demand has greatly increased the number of foods available in "reduced" or "salt free" versions and every time I go to the store I see more. Abby is quite right that processors respond to the bottom dollar much more readily than legislative action. And consumers are getting smarted and demanding better products, so slowly but surely the wheels are turning in the right direction.

Now that you are aware of the whole sodium issue, you to are better equipped to make good choices. The more fresh foods you buy and prepare yourself, the less sodium you will be consuming. Scanning the nutrient panel before buying prepared foods will not only guide your sodium choices, but fats and the unpronouncable chemicals added too.

As an odd turn of the issue, I actually have a hard time getting enough sodium. It is an essential nutrient required to keep your muscles firing correctly. Since I am an avid runner, biker, etc (kinda obvious, I guess) I sweat a lot, thus losing sodium. And since I eat mostly fresh foods, rarely fast food and seldom prepackaged food, I find myself supplementing my diet w/ sodium. Generally that's a good thing until you cramp up so badly you collapse on the trail :eek: which happened during a race last year.

I've often felt that tax dollars should go into the elementary school level and require nutrition education starting in Kindergarten. That would probably make the most difference in the long run. Manufacturers respond to what consumers want. Right now I seriously doubt that enough of the population gives a rip about sodium to make a difference in the attitude of the manufacturers. I actually happen to agree that government could step in and we would all benefit, but that's generally not how government works.

Thanks everybody for the great responses.

I wasn't aware that there have been more salt free/less salt versions of foods on the shelves because this is something I just never paid attention to. But I don't think this applies to canned foods. That is what I've been buying for many years and for sure they are loaded with NaCl. I was not aware that KCl was not as good at preserving.

Yeah, I'm for market demand driving things and I too am very leery of Big Brother stepping in and legislating things, but it seems like a no brainer to me to reduce the sodium somewhat in foods and substitute with potassium. I'm thinking there is a point where preserving ends and the rest of the sodium is just added for flavor. But who knows?

I've switched to low sodium V8 Juice and this has worked out great, and of course I could always make my own but I'd rather not at this point. I've also cut way back on my dill pickle consumption (great for a low cal snack) and am supplementing with potassium gluconate tablets when I need to. I'm bike riding/running/walking 5 times a week and I sweat a ton.

Vito

Yea, making your own V8 juice seems a little extreme :D.

The foods that I have noticed coming in lower sodium versions are soups, tomato products and canned beans. Since I usually use them as a cooking ingredient rather that straight from the can (well, that's not quite true for soup), I appreciate being able to add my own salt.

I think the thing the government did right all those years ago was require that processors put the nutrient content on the labels. I well remember the days before that law went into effect and you had no idea how much salt, fat, or sugar was in that can - only that there was some.

Believe me the processors fought that tooth and nail, but that is what has allowed the consumer to demand better versions of standard foods. (I still can't understand why Campbells put almost a whole days serving of salt in 1 cup of soup :eek:)

Agree with all the above - mfr.'s will figure it out eventually. My beef is with the scarcity of potassium info on the nutrition labels. Some show it, most don't. I do a lot of custom foods, and seldom have all the nutritional data, so potassium seldom hits my nutrition targets....

Bingo! Another great point. I was just shopping for some roasted peanuts, went to the store just to pick some up. I looked at 2 types on sale from the same store brand (Kroger). They listed the potassium for the Honey Roasted Peanuts but not for the Honey Mustard Peanuts. I really wanted those honey mustard peanuts but had to put them back because potassium was not listed. :mad:

Anyone else notice that some of the foods already in the system have ridiculously high Sodium levels. I'm pretty sure that a cup of broccoli doesn't have 38% of your daily recommended Na. Also, 2 small chicken breasts = 1700mg? That's over 1/2 tsp of salt.....is this really the "average"?

kylemillerca, FitDay includes sodium in cooked foods because people tend to spice their foods with salt when cooking. Some use more, some use less, so FD does it's best at guessing how much is added.

It's safer to use RAW food portions to avoid excess salt amounts.

With chicken breasts however, I wouldn't be surprised if FD is correct. Have you noticed that all raw chicken is packaged with a brine as a preservative?

Good point about the brine. I hadn't thought of that. I was just a bit shocked when I saw my total for the day equal 6000 mg, being that I was avoiding processed foods. Thanks for the tip about using "raw" foods. I generally don't add salt to my veggies, and instead rely on things like fresh herbs and lemon juice for flavoring.

Check out my public food journal for some tips on what to eat. I keep my sodium to under 2000 mg on many days now, although I do dip into the occasional 3K grams.

VitoVino - free online diet and fitness journal

When I first started tracking sodium I too was shocked, and I too was getting about 6K grams a day. The ONLY way to bring this under control is to "eat clean", eliminate many canned foods, and to cook your own foods.

[EDIT] Since I'm no longer a moderator I've made my public journal viewable to only friends. So if anyone wants to see this they'll have to send me a friend request. How? Tag search "fitday friends".

Ever watch 'Top Chef'? A cardinal sin is to undersalt food; it makes it taste 'bland.' Of course, that's only one aspect of flavor, but chefs undersalt, taste, and then add salt, taste, and so on, until the flavor is right.

You can control salt by cooking at home, not using processed foods, and 'undersalting' your food. Your tastebuds have to make the adjustment. Eventually, as I find with my elderly friends, your taste for salt will be so altered that you don't even notice it is missing. One friend makes eggs without salt and relies on the salt in salted butter to provide more flavor. She doesn't even own a salt shaker or a box of salt.

One of the worst offenders: store-bought bread and pastries. If you make your own bread, you can leave out salt and see what that tastes like. It IS different.

Then, when you go to a restaurant, prepare to make another adjustment. Chefs do salt food.

Potassium: drink coffee. Ever seen the potassium in coffee? It's there. Makes me glad I drink the stuff.

I never realized this about coffee until recently. But it makes sense since coffee is a bean and beans have high potassium. I just restarted drinking coffee again after about 6 months away from it. I was avoiding it because I like to add a bit of sugar, not much, but I was avoiding sugar at all costs.

I'm a big coffee drinker. I really need to cut back on my sugar but I haven't found any good substitutes? Can y ou recommend one?

Hey AS, give STEVIA a shot. But a little is all it takes. Maybe 1/4 of a pack (little individual sized packets) will do. It's very sweet, but it's natural so it's not bad for you like the artificial stuff is. ;)

I've tried other kinds of sweeteners (like agave nectar) but the Stevia ("In The Raw", not Truvia) is best, IMHO.

I recently had a double by-pass surgery and now the doctors and nutritionists have put me on a low sodium diet. I'm limited to 1500 mg per day. To hit my target, I'm eating lots of frozen vegetables and Subway Veggie Delite subs. I've dropped 9.4 pounds since I started doing this and my blood sugars have also dropped to very good levels.

You guys are right about manufacturers and restaurants loading up the foods with salt, it's so important to read your labels and know what you're getting.

That's good news about your diet and weight loss. Hitting 1500 mg per day is a real accomplishment. It's ridiculously difficult to do, even when eating lots of veggies.

Yup, between all the sodium and high fructose corn syrup they pump into foods these days it's pretty much like a silent war is being waged against the public. They're killing us and it's up to individuals to get smart about nutrition and to take back control of their diet.

Yes it really is a war. My nutritionist is furious with the manufacturers and restaurants for what they put into foods and sell as healthy foods. After I took a class with her about reading labels, I checked my food pantry and was shocked at how much sodium they put into canned goods. It's no wonder there's a obesity problem in this country.

You know what's cool about FitDay, djwayne2000? If you put in the time and effort, and it's really not that much, you actually become your own nutritionist! You've got all the information you need between the food logging and reports to learn all the basics about nutrition that you'll need to know to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Since you're fairly new, I suggest carefully following and learning about you macronutrients first, as you faithfully track your intake daily, then after a few months you can key in on your micronutrients. Doing too much all at once can be overwhelming and too confusing.

The salt problem really is interesting. Also the unlisted potassium problem makes me really mad, too. I'm going to check about the KCl/NaCl salt mixture and see if I can find it around where I am, see how it tastes to me.

One thing I've loved about Fitday is that I've become far more aware of salt. I tend to hit 2500-3500 per day, which is too high, but before that I was regularly hitting 5,000-6,000, so it's a work in progress. I consciously buy low-salt foods now - my house has low sodium beans, low-or-no sodium seasoning mixtures, low-salt condensed soups (when I buy condensed soup...nowadays it's more like I only buy cream of chicken and such for recipes, and that also comes in a low-salt variety), no-salt chicken broth (when I don't make my own), and other such whenever I can find it.

I find that I've become very used to lower salt content in my food. As Kathy pointed out, the salt in salted butter is usually enough for me when I'm making food with butter, and I just salt everything "to taste" -- and since my taste is used to less salt now, I'm overall using less salt when I cook. I still have trouble logging it faithfully (how much salt is "four sprinkles?" lol) I've also fallen in love with McCormick's "Perfect Pinch" seasoning blends. 5 of them come in entirely salt-free varieties and I find when I use them, I don't miss salt at ALL. The Garlic Pepper is particularly flavorful, and the salt-free ones say it right on the label in big, bold letters.

Salt-free and low-salt is a trend. It's happening, but REALLY slowly.

For nutritional information on many foods, I goto the Nutritional Data website. It's loaded with info on foods...

Nutrition facts, calories in food, labels, nutritional information and analysis – NutritionData.com

Check this out, this is what I now use. I've gotten away from the KCl/NaCl salt mixture as I found I was STILL getting too much sodium:


It took a few months to get used to it however. It's a little "sharper" tasting than sodium salt. But you use less, so the small container lasts a LONG time. And once you get used to the taste, you may actually PREFER it over NaCl. I do.

Then, in a pinch, if you want you could always get 1,470 mg. of Potassium packed into only 50 calories. How? By drinking 8 ounces of Low Sodium V8 juice (50 cals, 820 mg of K) spiked with 1/4 tsp "No Salt" (0 cals, 650 mg K).

Remember, it's not just the high sodium that is killing us. It's the RATIO of the sodium to potassium that is what we should be concerned with as well!

Neutralizing Sodium's Heart Impact

I've already tried the No Salt but I didn't like it at all.

Regarding potassium, I am now taking potassium supplements recommended by a pharmacist to alieviate leg cramps...I haven't had a leg cramp since I started with the potassium. I was getting them a lot but now nothing.

Vito-

I do the low-salt routine. I have been able to keep my sodium to 1500 per day, but it is a LOT of "from scratch" cooking, a lot of searching to find a rancher, chicken guy, pig guy, butcher... good thing there is a resurgence of the small farm/small ranch to customer business, or I would be lost. I make my own sausages, make my own "Canned soup base" for casserole cooking. I use a lot of acidic food to compensate for the "no salt blandness", lemon juices, lime, grapefruit... etc.

Excellent work, frenchhen. But you know what I get from all this? A person has to bust their butt and pull out all the stops just to meet the recommended amount of daily sodium.

I for one am convinced that 1500 is unrealistic for most people, unless of course one has doctor's orders for a low sodium diet. 2300 mg/day is a much more realistic goal. It's not that difficult to keep it at 2100-2600.

So long as the potassium level is consistently at 4700 or above, this amount of sodium should be OK. For the last two months my average potassium has been 5,870 mg/day while my sodium has been 2360 mg/day. It took a while, but a ratio like this is pretty good.

My secret for potassium sources? Sweet potatoes (almost every day), broccoli, carrots, V8 (low sodium), and "No Salt"

My secret to my low salt accomplishment... Star Kist canned Low Sodium tuna, then I rinse and squeeze, rinse and squeeze rinse and squeeze...

one of the few "processed foods" I buy is Thomas' Triple Health english muffins.
When I do need a salty crunchy snack I will eat Beanitos black bean chips.

Everything else I eat except for milk & meat products is pretty much raw or dried. But yes, I am in the kitchen probably two hours a day to make the meals I eat as nutritious as I can. It is a lot of work and lucky for me I enjoy it.

A recent challenge to the conventional wisdom about salt intake can be read if you will search on : Gary Taubes salt new york times. While cutting back on heavy comsumption of salt seems to lower high blood pressure, there are no clinical studies showing healthy people need to do this.

I just don't add salt to anything any more. Even then, I still manage to get in a ton of sodium from the food I eat. It was a little hard a first, but I've gotten to the point where I can appreciate the true taste of a food without adding "flavor crystals."

Vito- go easy on the No Salt. It's easy to OD on potassium using that; too much potassium can stop your heart. :eek:

Intravenously, yeah. 30mg/kg of potassium chloride would lock-up your heart tout-suite.
But I sincerely doubt VitoVino is injecting his daily potassium. ;)

Orally, the LD50 of potassium is 2.5g/kg. A 180lb man/woman would have to consume 200 grams, or over 40 times the RDA of potassium to get to that level. Yummy!

So Vito, relax and enjoy your salt substitute(s).
You're gonna die, we all die -- eventually, but it won't be from 'No Salt' potassium poisoning.

:)

Added salt exists in almost every canned/preserved food. Salt and postassium are both needed in the body. The politics of salt becomes more muddled because not everyone is salt sensitive. I have high blood presssure but my salt intake does not appear to make a difference. I am more sensitive about postassium. I will easily get cramps if I dehydrate or my postassium is too low for too long. I also use lite salt and am ok with the taste. For those of you who may be salt sensitive, conisder the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. This diet aims at a maximum of 1500 mg of nacl a day. There is a wealth of free materials on the diet, including recipes and links to studies indicating its efficacy. Following is a link for those who might be interested:

What Is the DASH Eating Plan? - NHLBI, NIH

Joe

If you knew my relatives, you'd be worried. They're salt happy. :rolleyes:

Good advice for everyone else as *I* track my potassium intake daily.

I see a lot of people saying don't use potassium salt, period, when after all what they are saying is "Make sure you don't overdo it." And "Make sure you don't take in too much at one time."

I average about 5-6 grams of potassium a day, and my sodium is about 1.8-2.4 grams a day. That's a great balance.