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How you can reduce your salt intake
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A preference for salt is an acquired taste that can be unlearned. (Shutterstock/File)
Some foods contain higher amounts of salt than you may expect. The biggest culprits are processed foods.
When it comes to dietary sodium, less is certainly best. Diets high in sodium increase blood pressure. High blood pressure damages the kidneys over time and is a leading cause of kidney failure.
Health risks and disease
Sodium (salt) has various effects on heart health. High salt intake increases blood pressure, which can lead to heart disease, while high potassium intake can help relax blood vessels, excrete the sodium and decrease blood pressure.
In most people, the kidneys have trouble keeping up with excess sodium in the bloodstream. As sodium accumulates, the body holds onto water to dilute the sodium. This increases both the amount of fluid surrounding cells and the volume of blood in the bloodstream. Increased blood volume means more work for the heart and more pressure on blood vessels.
Over time, the extra work and pressure can stiffen the blood vessels, leading to high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke. It can also lead to heart failure. There is also some evidence that too much salt can damage the heart, aorta and kidneys without increasing blood pressure, and that it may be bad for bones too.
In the study, people with the highest sodium intakes had a 20 percent higher risk of death from any cause than people with the lowest sodium intakes. People with the highest potassium intakes had a 20 percent lower risk of dying than people with the lowest intakes.
But what may be even more important for health is the relationship of sodium to potassium in the diet: people with the highest ratio of sodium to potassium in their diets had double the risk of dying from a heart attack than people with the lowest ratio, and they had a 50 percent higher risk of death from any cause.
(Read also: Fried chicken trans fat-free, but high in sodium: survey)
Reducing salt intake
To help you reduce your salt intake to the ideal one teaspoon per day, here are some tips for cutting down on salt in your diet.
- Read food labels when shopping. Salt content in the same type of product can vary considerably between brands.
- Buy reduced-salt bread and breakfast cereals. The regular varieties of these common staples are loaded with added salt.
- Avoid highly processed products. Examples of convenience foods best avoided include flavored instant pasta, instant noodles, canned soups and dehydrated soup mixes.
- Make your own sauces. Popular processed sauces that contain lots of salt include soy sauce, tomato sauce, mayonnaise and salad dressings.
- Limit your consumption of salty snacks. Potato chips, salted nuts, pickles and most cheeses should be occasional treats, not a regular part of your daily diet.
- Cut back on processed meats. Varieties that are high in salt include salami, ham, corned beef, bacon, smoked salmon, sausages, frankfurters and chicken loaf.
- Cook with fresh or frozen vegetables. Canned vegetables tend to have added salt.
- Don’t add salt to food when cooking. Instead, add herbs or a splash of olive oil or lemon juice to enhance flavors.
- Put away the salt shaker. Try to break the habit of automatically salting your meals at the table.
- Eat takeaway foods only occasionally. When possible, choose low-salt takeaway options such as a salad.
- Use fresh, rather than packaged, meats. Fresh cuts of beef, chicken or pork contain natural sodium, but the content is still much less than the hidden extra sodium added during processing in products like bacon or ham. If a food item keeps well in the fridge for days or weeks, that’s a tip off that the sodium content is too high.
(Read also: Does anxiety cause high blood pressure?)
- Choose fresh fruits and vegetables as they are very low in sodium. Canned and frozen fruits are also low in sodium.
- When buying frozen vegetables, choose those that are labeled “fresh frozen” and do not contain added seasoning or sauces.
- Sometimes the high sugar content in a product like apple pie can mask the high sodium content so it’s important to check every label for sodium content.
- Select spices or seasonings that do not list sodium on their labels, i.e. choose garlic powder over garlic salt.
- Before dining out, do your research. Visit a restaurant’s website, which may list the sodium content of various dishes served there. Alternatively, when you’re at the restaurant and ready to order, request that the dish be served without salt.
- Beware of products that don’t taste especially salty but still have high sodium content, such as cottage cheese.
- If you have elevated blood pressure, dietary sodium restriction can not only lower your blood pressure, but can also enhance your response to blood pressure medications.
A preference for salt is an acquired taste that can be unlearned. It takes six to eight weeks to get used to eating food with much lower quantities of salt, but once it’s done, it actually becomes difficult to eat foods like potato chips because they taste way too salty. (kes)
