THE SALTS OF THE EARTH
Even while the word on too much sodium isn’t good, there is a plethora of new salts, Real Deal reveals.
It’s a dilemma: On one hand, health authorities warn that North Americans consume way too much salt. It contains sodium, which can increase blood pressure and the subsequent risk of stroke, heart disease and other serious ailments.
But just try reducing your sodium intake to the daily level promoted by Health Canada: a maximum of 2,300 milligrams per day for people over 14, known as the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL). Tougher yet, try hitting the preferred Adequate Intake level (AI) of 1,500 milligrams per day (children and older people may need even less).
For example, a breakfast of cold cereal with milk and two slices of store-bought bread with regular peanut butter can top 600 milligrams. A modest fast-food meal of small fries, hamburger and a pop can hit 1,500 milligrams without even trying.
No wonder Canadians are consuming an average of 3,400 milligrams of sodium a day, most of it from processed foods, including bread, deli and other prepared meats and soup.
To muddy the issue, we need sodium for good health. What’s more, some science writers, including American contrarian Gary Taubes, say the whole sodium worry is wildly exaggerated.
So, just how concerned should we be about sodium in our diets and what can we do to control our intake?
Excess sodium is most likely to affect those with a history of high blood pressure or heart disease, older people and some other groups, says Ottawa dietitian Meghan Barnes. However, since there’s no definitive way to know whether excess sodium will potentially harm an individual, “it’s better if we all just try to reduce the sodium in our diet,” she says.
A half-cup — a paltry amount when you’re hungry — of Heinz Original Beans in Tomato Sauce contains 390 milligrams of sodium. The label says that’s 16 per cent of what’s called ‘% daily value,’ the maximum intake recommended by Health Canada.
Barnes is refreshingly practical. Achieving Health Canada’s lower AI level is, she says, “very difficult unless you’re making everything yourself from scratch.” Her advice: If you’re generally healthy, “just try not to go over the maximum level.”
That means steering clear of snack foods, like pretzels (10 salted pretzels contain up to a heart-stopping 1,029 milligrams of sodium, according to a University of Maine publication Sodium Content of Your Food).
Instead, chow down on fresh fruits and vegetables (a cup of raw raspberries contains no sodium and the same amount of squash — admittedly not appealing when you’ve got the munchies — has just two milligrams, according to the same publication).
To flavour your food, try garlic, paprika and other salt-free spices.
When shopping, check the sodium content in the Nutrition Facts portion of food labels.
A half-cup — a paltry amount when you’re hungry — of Heinz Original Beans in Tomato Sauce, for example, contains 390 milligrams of sodium. The label says that’s 16 per cent of what’s called “% daily value,” the maximum intake recommended by Health Canada.
Add a couple of Schneiders Smoked Weiners (360 milligrams of sodium each), hotdog buns (roughly 170 milligrams each), and relish (100 milligrams per serving) and with one meal alone, you’re at 1,620 milligrams.
Like most manufacturers, Heinz adds sodium for both taste and to extend shelf life. The company has reduced the sodium content of various canned beans between 12 and 35 per cent since 2005 and continues to do so, says company spokeswoman Joan Patterson. But she admits “if you reduce it too drastically, consumers don’t like it and they won’t buy it.”
She may be right. I recently sampled some no-salt cheese. It tasted like a cross between a pencil eraser and a ping-pong ball. “Some people add their own salt,” said the cashier. That seemed counter-productive.
Sodium reduction is a priority in the food industry, says Phyllis Tanaka, vice-president of Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, Food and Nutrition at Food & Consumer Products of Canada, an industry association.
She says that while manufacturers continue to reduce sodium content overall, national quantification of their success is impossible because corporations establish their own reduction strategies and no general monitoring of sodium levels in food currently exists.
That’s also pretty much the case in the restaurant trade, according to the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association. It says most members have reduced sodium in some products and have a related policy, strategy or guideline in place. Meats, sandwiches, soups and burgers are getting the most sodium reduction attention.
Our food supply might have inched closer to safe sodium levels if the federal government hadn’t disbanded the Sodium Working Group last summer. The SWG, established in 2007 to help slash sodium consumption, presented recommendations in 2010 to reduce sodium in our diet to an average of 2,300 milligrams a day. The Conservative government adopted those recommendations and the SWG was expected to be part of the federal government’s sodium strategy for several more years.
The group was replaced in 2012 by the Food Regulatory Advisory Committee, which many have criticized as having overly close ties to industry and little or no experience with matters related to sodium or high blood pressure.
Despite its goal of reducing sodium consumption to 2,300 milligrams a day by 2016, the federal government has no firm strategies for doing so, says Bill Jeffrey, national co-ordinator of Ottawa’s Centre for Science in the Public Interest and former SWG member.
His interpretation: Neither the government nor the food industry is really committed to reducing sodium consumption.
“There are a couple of companies touting lower sodium products, but with about 5,000 food manufacturers and 70,000 restaurants, we’re just not seeing evidence that progress is being made.”
Sodium reduction advocates could get another kick at the can, thanks to federal New Democratic Party member and deputy leader of the Official Opposition Libby Davies. In November 2012, she introduced Bill C-460, The Sodium Reduction Strategy for Canada Act.
Its proposals include setting sodium reduction targets for dozens of food categories and using 1,500 instead of the current 2,300 or 2,400 milligrams of sodium per day (the number appears to vary) to establish the % daily value on food labels. The bill is in first reading.
Given our collective attitude to sodium in diets to date, it’s doubtful the bill will pass. However, there’s still lots you can do to cut sodium consumption.
Buy food with a sodium content of less than 15% daily value.
Look for canned vegetables with little or no added salt and unseasoned meat, poultry, fish, seafood and tofu; use spices and herbs to enhance the flavour.
Cook pasta, rice and hot cereals without adding salt (it is an acquired taste).
Watch for spices with names ending in “salt” such as garlic salt and celery salt; they’re high in sodium.
Sea salt contains the same amount of sodium by weight as regular table salt.
If have a chronic health problem, consult your doctor before reducing salt intake.