Salt, sugar often hidden in food
What foods carry a danger of supplying our bodies with hidden salt or sugar?
Scott Harding has a blunt answer. The biochemistry professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland notes, "if you didn't prepare it from scratch, you just don't know how much salt or sugar is in it."
For those counting calories — and especially those with medical conditions that require them to control their salt and/or sugar intake — he said this can create a major challenge.
While some foods may be labelled salt-free or sugarfree, Scott suggests they should still be approached with caution.
"You have to look and see if something was added to replace that salt or sugar and whether that will have unintended consequences as well," he said.
He also warns that it's not always the foods that many might consider unhealthy in which large amounts of salt or sugar make an unseen appearance. For example, the recommended serving from an average can of soup typically provides about 30 per cent of the recommended daily salt intake.
Harding notes people who don't study ingredient labels — and it's fair to say that is probably the majority of the population — likely have little idea how much salt or sugar they are consuming.
"For many people, by the time you are watching it, there are already problems," he said.
DID YOU KNOW?
While it probably comes as no surprise, breakfast cereals contain high levels of sugar — especially brands that are geared to the younger set — it's less known that they are also high in salt. Many common brands contain more than 1.5 grams of salt per 100 grams of cereal, which is nearly as much salt as a heaping handful of potato chips.
According to the website of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, close to 75 per cent of the salt humans consume is already in the food we eat.
"The salt or sugar we put directly on our food is such a small part of what we consume," Harding adds.
Amanda Nash says ultraprocessed foods are a major source of both added salt and sugar.
Nash, who is the health promotion and nutrition manager with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, explains that category includes ready-to-eat meals, snack foods and frozen meals.
Studies done by her organization reveal consumption of ultra-processed foods is on the rise, not only in Canada but around the word.
"Even in developing countries that are adopting a more western-based lifestyle, their use is going up," she said.
WORST OFFENDERS
According to the National Health Service website, both soup and breakfast cereals make the top eight list of the worst offenders for hidden salt. Other items include bread and rolls, packaged sandwiches, pizza, smoked meats, tomato sauce and bakery goods.
The scenario is just as scary on the sugar side of the equation.
The American Heart Association notes the average person south of the border eats 22 teaspoons per day in hidden sugar. The association cautions excess sugar consumption can be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Sometimes, identifying hidden sugar means knowing what to look for since there are different types of sugar.
Some tips to identify hidden sugar include:
• Does it have syrup in the name? Examples: corn syrup, rice syrup.
• Words ending in “ose.” Examples: fructose, sucrose, maltose, dextrose.
• Fruit nectars, juice concentrates, honey or molasses.
And that doesn't even count the obvious ones like raw sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar and confectionary sugar. All told, there are over 60 names for added sugar.
Even labels like “whole grain” or “fortified with vitamins and minerals” don't mean sugar or salt content isn't present. Foods like yogurt often have high sugar content, and Nash recommends looking at the label carefully. One way to reduce your sugar intake, she suggests, is to add fruit yourself to plain yogurt.
How many people realize condiments like ketchup, barbecue sauce, salad dressings and relish all have added sugars?
Even diet soda has some sodium, and regular pop, energy drinks and flavoured milk all have significant sugar levels. For example, the average energy drink has between 24 and 29 grams of sugar.
Nash said a recent 10-year study showed consumption of sports drinks increased just over four per cent, while flavoured water sales were up over 500 per cent and flavoured coffees and energy drinks both saw an increase of over 600 per cent in sales.
"We recommend you limit your daily consumption of added sugar to 12 teaspoons," Nash said. "An energy drink has over 20 teaspoons."
TOO MUCH
Some salt and sugar are essential to the diet.
Salt breaks down into its two component parts, sodium and chloride, when ingested. Chloride helps absorb nutrients from food while sodium influences the volume of liquids retained by the body and helps regulate blood pressure.
Sugar breaks down during digestion to provide energy to fuel your body. Excess sugar and salt can put people at higher risk for health conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
High sodium intake can lead to high blood pressure and greater risk of heart attack or stroke.
Meanwhile, too much sugar can lead to tooth decay and weight gain.
To help guard against those risks, Harding recommends what he calls a preventative approach.
Make sure you read the labels carefully and pay particular attention to the selected serving size. Getting back to the example of the soup, he notes, "If you double the serving size, you also double the salt."
Health Canada has a wealth of information on its website on food labelling and recommended daily values of ingredients.
Both Harding and Nash say the key to mitigating the negative impacts of added sugar and salt consumption is taking the extra time to read the labels and find out exactly what is in the food you are eating.
Nash notes both salt and sugar are not inherently bad — in fact, they are needed to keep us alive — but it is important to consume them in moderation.