We All Need Salt

At least Dr. Malcolm Kendrick has humor and writes with it. The subject is serious and he takes it apart bit by bit and shows how we can be led astray by what we think we know. Even I have been caught in this. Talk about mistakes in blog writing, then read this where I made a serious mistake.

Keep in mind that salt (NaCl) and sodium (Na) are two different things. I like Dr. Kendrick's way of explaining it and I urge you to take time to read his blog linked in the first sentence.

Sodium, What Some People Want It to Represent

I have to wonder what is happening that the anti-sodium people are pushing hard to promote what sodium looks like. I have been approached to do a different sort of blog, but in all fairness, I cannot promote what I have found.  It is important to note that the examples used on the website, except the fast food items, were from the USDA database. This means that the errors can be as high as 20 percent. I will use three examples from the link provided me, but the range is not accurate and no rounding ranges are given.

I feel that the intentions were good, but I am concerned about the accuracy. Example for three chicken breasts. The claim is that three chicken breasts equals 1200 milligrams of sodium.

What upsets me about the website is except for the fast food items, nothing is spelled out about the items they are using for examples. The first item below only states chicken breast and three pieces. Are they talking about three full chicken breasts or are they using three pieces – meaning one full chicken breast and half of another.

Chicken Breast:

3 pieces=1200mg sodium

So let's take three full chicken breasts that are fresh. In checking with my local grocery stores, both divided a chicken breast into two, four-ounce pieces. Both said that as fresh, a four-ounce piece had 40 mg of sodium. For three full chicken breasts, this would mean six of the four-ounce pieces or a total of 240 mg of sodium. If they are counting only 3 four-ounce pieces, then there would be a total of 120 mg of sodium. Both ways, their calculations are far short of the 1200 mg of sodium used in the example.

If the chicken breasts are from the frozen food section, then it is another ball game. There the pieces are not full chicken breasts and are injected with a solution before freezing and each four-ounce piece contains 250 mg of sodium. Six pieces or three full chicken breasts would have 1500 mg of sodium. Three pieces would have 750 mg of sodium.

Both grocery store representatives stated that the amount injected could vary by the Company which provided the frozen pieces. It is obvious from the information that I have been able to obtain, that there is potentially large errors in this example. By not using more detail in this example they have given cause for concern about how they measure and talk about food.

Soy Sauce:

1 1/3 tbs=1200mg sodium

In this example, I used two different brands of soy sauce that I have in my own food stock. As such, with the two examples I have, variances exist because one brand is advertised as less sodium. Both use tablespoon (tbsp) as a serving. The less sodium is Kikkoman and contains 575 mg per serving. This would mean that two tbsp would be 1150 mg of sodium and not the 1 1/3 tbsp from the example.

The second brand is La Choy and one tbsp is 920 mg of sodium. One and one-third tbsp would equal 1227 mg of sodium. I can forgive the rounding error, but not the fact that we need to know what soy sauce was used in their calculations.

The difference between the two brands is significant and points out how mistakes are made in tracking sodium use by individuals unless they read the labels and accurately measure the amount of soy sauce used in a recipe.

A little more information when I went to the store. Kikkoman regular was 920 mg of sodium, La Choy lite was 550 mg of sodium, and a store brand was 840 mg of sodium. All were for one tablespoon of soy sauce.

McDonald's Cheeseburger:

1 3/5 burger=1200mg sodium

For the last example I will use a fast food item available locally and around the world. Yes, I am using a food choice at McDonalds. According the nutrition fact sheet, a PDF file, one cheeseburger has 680 mg of sodium. Using the example of one and three-fifths, the sodium is 1088 mg of sodium. Even this is short of 1200 mg of sodium. This has to be another rounding error and it is more significant than the soy sauce above, but still within the 20 percent error factor.

I could go on with other examples, but this could be an extremely long blog. My advice before using the page in the above link as an example of tracking your sodium intake would be to use more common sense and investigate the serving size and reading the food labels. Also, do not forget to look at the items you purchase for the variances that exist on the grocery store shelves.

In addition, have a good discussion with your doctor about the amount of sodium you need. Both the FDA and American Heart Association have guidelines available, but these guidelines are for healthy people and not all people.

Commercial Foods Industry Messing with Salt, Again

Because of government, public health, and professional organizations applying pressures on the food manufacturers to reduce sodium intake, the food industry is experimenting with salt alternatives and forms of salt to reduce sodium intake. How will this fare in the long-term? Even now, consumers are cautious about buying low sodium, no sodium, and reduced sodium products because they claim this sacrifices flavor.

As a result, food companies are finding less drastic ways to reduce sodium in foods without alerting consumers. This involves stopping labeling claims on packages and rebranding products to emphasize low sodium. The answer it appears is to maximize how salt in the product interacts with the tongue. Increasing the boldness of salt's flavor can be done by using different crystal sizes and shapes as found in varieties of Kosher salts, sea salts, and specialty salts. This is being tried by increasing salt's surface area and reducing its general density for products like chips, crackers, and some baked goods. Spanish researchers have found a potential use of newly developed hollow salt microspheres on commonly eaten foods could reduce sodium intake by approximately nine percent.

“Several companies are also developing products with potassium chloride in combination with salt in order to reduce sodium in foods while masking the metallic taste that can sometimes go along with potassium chloride. Applications include salad dressing, mayonnaise, processed meat and poultry products, cheese and dairy products, baked goods and snacks, as well as prepared meals and entrees in restaurant chains. The next step when reducing sodium and finding substitutes is to work on savory notes to enhance salt’s flavor using glutamate-containing ingredients such as glutamate-rich yeast and mushroom extracts.” More on this below.

This is somewhat humorous, one company is adding color to the salt with the use of fruits and vegetables to show consumers how much salt they are adding to food. Innovation may be taking its toll as some are using hot sauce, soy sauce, adding smoke flavors to salts, and dairy product solids to foods. Reducing sodium to a given product clearly will depend on the functionality of salt in the product.

I think it will become wise, if not mandatory, for all consumers to read the label and ingredient's sections on food containers to avoid some of the problems the food industry will be causing. I urge everyone to be cautious with foods containing potassium chloride because of consuming an excess of potassium. Please read my blog here on the potential interactions and problems excess potassium may cause. Always talk with your doctor before this becomes a problem. Potassium is essential for life, but use caution to avoid excess.

In the italicized paragraph above, be careful of products containing glutamate ingredients. Glutamate is a salt of glutamic acid or an ester of glutamic acid. Not everyone can tolerate these, but the number of these people is generally unknown because the medical community generally does not test for these.

Foods Topping the List of Sodium Culprits

A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study says that about 90 percent of the people in the United States consume too much sodium per day. It is not surprising that the largest contributors of the excess sodium come from your grocery store purchases and foods you eat at restaurants.

An average person consumes about 3300 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day. The US published guidelines are for less than 2300 mg of salt per day. If you have high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, are an African-American, or are over the age of 51, then you should limit your salt to 1500 mg per day.

The study lists the top ten foods that are the largest contributors of the sodium we consume on a daily basis. The 10 foods are responsible for 44 percent of our sodium intake.

• “Breads and rolls
• Luncheon meats such as deli ham and turkey
• Pizza
• Poultry
• Soups
• Cheeseburgers and other sandwiches
• Cheese
• Pasta dishes
• Meat dishes
• Snack foods including chips, pretzels, and popcorn”
  

It is very interesting that the majority of our sodium comes from outside the home. We do need to be concerned about the salt contained in processed foods and work to reduce the sodium we purchase. This graph makes one sit up and take notice:

Some food manufacturers are working to reduce the sodium content of their foods, but I have to wonder if the 10 percent reduction in sodium is not a token gesture to appease those asking for sodium reduction. However, a 10 percent reduction in all foods is a start.

What the WebMD article fails include is the tips on how to reduce your salt consumption. Read the source information by the CDC.

• “Choose to purchase healthy options and talk with your grocer or favorite restaurant about stocking lower sodium food choices.
• Read the Nutrition Facts label while shopping to find the lowest sodium options of your favorite foods.
• Eat a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables and frozen fruits and vegetables without sauce.
• Limit processed foods high in sodium.
• When eating out, request lower sodium options.
• Support initiatives that reduce sodium in foods in cafeterias and vending machines.”

These are good tips and ways to attempt to limit your sodium.