Judith Wurtman :
A few months ago we dined with friends in a restaurant featuring small plates of ‘interesting food’ that were meant to be shared by everyone at the table. For the first time ever in a restaurant, we sent back a few of the meal items. They were so salty we had to spit them out (discreetly). A review of the restaurant read after our visit confirmed our impression that the dominant seasoning came from the salt shaker.
The excessive salt content of this restaurant’s food was apparent to anyone with taste buds, but could not be avoided unless we left the restaurant hungry.
However, it was not alone in supplying more salt than our body needed or should be given. Restaurant food in general is a major source of excessive salt content; so much so that the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in the US gives unwelcome prizes to the fast food chains whose dishes contain the most egregious amounts of NaCl. Two of the prizewinners this year were Chili’s Crispy Fiery Pepper Crispers (6,240 mg of sodium), and Applebee’s New England Fish & Chips/Hand Battered Fish Fry (4,500 mg of sodium). To put the salt content of these meals in perspective, the American Heart Association says that we should consume no more than 2,300 milligrams a day, and ideally less. And for those with high blood pressure, salt intake should not exceed 1,500 milligrams per day.
But you don’t have to be a patron of these notable restaurants to have your cells swim in salt. According to the Center for Disease Control 2014 report, on an average we eat 3,400 mg of salt each day; about a thousand milligrams above the ‘highest’ amount we should be eating.
About 61 per cent of the salt we consumed each day comes from processed foods and restaurant meals, according to Zerleen Quader, an analyst from the CDC.
However the top five saltiest foods may not be the ones we would think of: they are soups, pizza, bread, luncheon meats, and sandwiches (presumably because of the bread and the meat filling). Potato chips and other salty crunchy are close contenders.
While we are managing to eat too much of the mineral sodium (half of the salt molecule) we don’t eat enough potassium, a mineral that we should be eating in much greater amounts than sodium. The consequences can be serious: the results of a major study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed “…a significant increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease with higher ratios of sodium to potassium…” We should be eating about 4,700 mg of potassium and of course only 2,300 g or less of sodium. Most of us fail miserably in reaching this balance.
According to their survey, of almost 3,000 participants, less than 5 per cent reached their potassium goals and only 13 per cent did not eat too much sodium.
This study was based on information gathered more than ten years ago. Might our current emphasis on low carbohydrate, high protein diets make us even more vulnerable? Bananas for example, which are very high in potassium, would be eliminated on a Paleo or Keto diet, along with many other fruits and vegetables.
Changing sodium consumption behaviour is difficult because unless we read food labels carefully, avoid most processed foods and restaurants, and rein in our tendency to use spices that have high sodium content, e.g. garlic or onion powder, soy sauce and condiments in general. Many contain MSG, which of course has sodium.
High salt intake has been linked to hypertension (high blood pressure) for decades.
A recently published study of nutrient intake among more than 46,000 men and women in Japan has shown that both sodium intake alone and the sodium to potassium ratio are linked to hypertension and the diseases that can result such as strokes.
Many medications are available, the anti-hypertensives, to reduce blood pressure to normal levels. However, life style changes, most obviously cutting back on salt intake, would support the effect of the drugs on returning blood pressure to normal readings.
As a friend who loves salt told me, “It is worth giving up salty foods so I can remember what I just ate.”
(Judith Wurtman is an author and founder of Harvard University hospital weight-loss facility. Courtesy: Psychology Today)
A few months ago we dined with friends in a restaurant featuring small plates of ‘interesting food’ that were meant to be shared by everyone at the table. For the first time ever in a restaurant, we sent back a few of the meal items. They were so salty we had to spit them out (discreetly). A review of the restaurant read after our visit confirmed our impression that the dominant seasoning came from the salt shaker.
The excessive salt content of this restaurant’s food was apparent to anyone with taste buds, but could not be avoided unless we left the restaurant hungry.
However, it was not alone in supplying more salt than our body needed or should be given. Restaurant food in general is a major source of excessive salt content; so much so that the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in the US gives unwelcome prizes to the fast food chains whose dishes contain the most egregious amounts of NaCl. Two of the prizewinners this year were Chili’s Crispy Fiery Pepper Crispers (6,240 mg of sodium), and Applebee’s New England Fish & Chips/Hand Battered Fish Fry (4,500 mg of sodium). To put the salt content of these meals in perspective, the American Heart Association says that we should consume no more than 2,300 milligrams a day, and ideally less. And for those with high blood pressure, salt intake should not exceed 1,500 milligrams per day.
But you don’t have to be a patron of these notable restaurants to have your cells swim in salt. According to the Center for Disease Control 2014 report, on an average we eat 3,400 mg of salt each day; about a thousand milligrams above the ‘highest’ amount we should be eating.
About 61 per cent of the salt we consumed each day comes from processed foods and restaurant meals, according to Zerleen Quader, an analyst from the CDC.
However the top five saltiest foods may not be the ones we would think of: they are soups, pizza, bread, luncheon meats, and sandwiches (presumably because of the bread and the meat filling). Potato chips and other salty crunchy are close contenders.
While we are managing to eat too much of the mineral sodium (half of the salt molecule) we don’t eat enough potassium, a mineral that we should be eating in much greater amounts than sodium. The consequences can be serious: the results of a major study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed “…a significant increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease with higher ratios of sodium to potassium…” We should be eating about 4,700 mg of potassium and of course only 2,300 g or less of sodium. Most of us fail miserably in reaching this balance.
According to their survey, of almost 3,000 participants, less than 5 per cent reached their potassium goals and only 13 per cent did not eat too much sodium.
This study was based on information gathered more than ten years ago. Might our current emphasis on low carbohydrate, high protein diets make us even more vulnerable? Bananas for example, which are very high in potassium, would be eliminated on a Paleo or Keto diet, along with many other fruits and vegetables.
Changing sodium consumption behaviour is difficult because unless we read food labels carefully, avoid most processed foods and restaurants, and rein in our tendency to use spices that have high sodium content, e.g. garlic or onion powder, soy sauce and condiments in general. Many contain MSG, which of course has sodium.
High salt intake has been linked to hypertension (high blood pressure) for decades.
A recently published study of nutrient intake among more than 46,000 men and women in Japan has shown that both sodium intake alone and the sodium to potassium ratio are linked to hypertension and the diseases that can result such as strokes.
Many medications are available, the anti-hypertensives, to reduce blood pressure to normal levels. However, life style changes, most obviously cutting back on salt intake, would support the effect of the drugs on returning blood pressure to normal readings.
As a friend who loves salt told me, “It is worth giving up salty foods so I can remember what I just ate.”
(Judith Wurtman is an author and founder of Harvard University hospital weight-loss facility. Courtesy: Psychology Today)
