Sara Lee Corporation announced late last week that it plans a sodium reduction in many of its products over the course of the next five years. The reduction is in “key categories” of fresh bread, hot dogs, lunchmeat, breakfast foods and cooked sausage. Brands included in the initiative are  Jimmy Dean, Ball Park, Hillshire Farm, and Sara Lee.

What you need to know:

This is good news. Sort of.

It would have been better if the reduction would become effective immediately and not planned for such a long term. Right now the press release is more about marketing than nutrition. Sara Lee would gain much more credibility if it announced the reductions as they were being executed, not in advance.

We Americans are consuming way too much salt in our diet.While the daily maximum is 2300 mg of sodium (5 grams of salt, the equivalent of a teaspoon) the average consumption is over 3,500 mg. Excess salt intake results in high blood pressure, hypertension and additional health risks.

over 70% of the salt we consume comes from processed foods. In many cases, the sodium comes in surprising places. Bread products, Cereals, and even sweet snacks contain high levels of salt.

Take Sara Lee’s Plain Bagel. It contains 590 mg of sodium – more than 25% of the recommended daily maximum. And this is before the lox, eggs, or cheeses!

What to do at the supermarket:

We could all do with less sodium. Look at products’ nutrition facts panel where sodium content is mandated both in milligrams and percent of daily value. Grains will always contain some levels of salt but choose those with lower numbers. Many manufacturers are reformulating their products to reduce sodium levels, so it makes sense to compare similar products and choose the one with the lowest count.

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Here’s an interesting story. Cardiologists from the US decided to check 3500 year old mummies for heart disease. They headed off to Cairo, Egypt and what they found was quite surprising. Although no fast food or trans-fat were peddled in ancient Egypt, the majority of the mummies showed evidence of clogged arteries and heart disease. One may even have died of a heart attack.

Does this mean we’re all going to get sick hearts, regardless of our diet?

Don’t rush out to McDonald’s just yet.

According to the researcher, those mummified…

… were of high social status, and many served in the court of the Pharaoh or as priests or priestesses.

Rich people ate meat, and they did salt meat, so maybe they had hypertension (high blood pressure)…

With modern diets, “we all sort of live in the Pharaoh’s court,” said another of the researchers…

read more from Seattle PI…

What to do at the supermarket:

Please don’t let this amusing piece cause you to adopt a more tolerant approach to fast foods and over consumption of saturated fats. The average prehistoric Egyptian barely reached 45 years of age. Enjoy the abundance of our modern “court of Pharaoh” a.k.a supermarket to focus on plenty of fresh produce, lean dairy and meat products and 100% whole grains.

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Note: The following is a guest post by Andy Bellatti, MS. He is the creator of the Small Bites blog, where this post originally appeared.  Andy is on the Registered Dietitian track at New York University’s Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health.

Okay, quick.
You’re standing in front of a vending machine a few hours after having finished lunch, in search of a savory snack.

For simplicity’s sake, let’s say you are at an all-day workshop in some random building, you didn’t bring a snack with you, and there’s another three hours until you get home and can fix yourself dinner.

The vending machine offers you the following options: plain potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, and crackers.

Which would you choose to get the most nutritional bang for your buck?  If you said potato chips — you are RIGHT.

Yes, you read correctly.  Let me explain.

A one-ounce bag of Lay’s potato chips contains:

• 150 calories
• 10 grams fat (1 gram saturated)
• 180 milligrams sodium

A one-ounce bag of tortilla chips provides:

• 140 calories
• 7 grams fat (1 gram saturated)
• 125 milligrams sodium

Let’s take a look at what a one-ounce bag of pretzels adds up to:

• 100 calories
• 0 grams fat
• 580 milligrams sodium

Finally, here is what you get from a one-ounce bag of crackers (i.e. Wheat Thins)

• 150 calories
• 6 grams fat (1 gram saturated)
• 280 milligrams sodium

Let’s discuss.

Although many people are automatically sold by their absence of fat, I have issues with pretzels.  I consider them to be a nutritionally lame snack.

Not only are most of them entirely comprised of refined white flour, they also lack the three nutrients that provide a feeling of satiety, or fullness: fat, protein, and fiber.

The problem with foods that offer negligible amounts of those three nutrients is that it takes quite a bit of their calories to feel satisfied.  Snacking on 150 calorie of almonds, for example (which contain fat, protein, and fiber), leaves you fuller for longer than that same amount of calories from pretzels.

Although crackers like Wheat Thins have some fat, they are mostly made with white flour.  Pass.

That brings us to tortilla chips and potato chips.

Calorically, they are almost equal.  Although both have the same amount of saturated fat, tortilla chips have a few less grams of total fat and a slightly lower sodium content.

However, it is what you don’t see on nutrition labels that gives potato chips the edge — potassium!

A one-ounce serving of potato chips provides, on average, 460 milligrams of potassium — as much as a medium banana.  That same amount of tortilla chips?  Sixty milligrams.

Remember, adequate potassium intake is a crucial tool against hypertension (cutting back on sodium is only part of the equation).  Coincidentally, the average US diet is too high in sodium and too low in potassium.

The additional 65 milligrams of sodium in potato chips (compared to corn chips) is a moot point when you consider they come bundled with that much potassium.

It also doesn’t hurt that the ingredient list for potato chips (such as Lay’s) is nice and basic: potatoes, oil, and salt.  No extra junk.

Let me be perfectly clear — this is not a recommendation to get your potassium from potato chips.  Nor am I christening potato chips as a healthy snack when you’re on the run.

However, nutrition is about making the most out of whatever choices you have available.  You aren’t always going to have fresh fruits, nuts, organic vegetables and whole grains at your disposal, so it’s always good to be prepared for moments like these.

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Our body needs salt to function properly, but most of us are getting twice as much as our bodies need. This leads to high blood pressure, hypertension, and other maladies. Many times people are not even aware that their sodium consumption is so high (salt is 40% sodium, 60% chloride).

Here are some common myths regarding salt, thanks to the British Food Standards Agency:

1. Food has no flavour without salt – FALSE
If you’re used to salty foods and like to add generous amounts at every meal, then tasting the same foods without salt may make them seem a bit bland. That’s because your taste buds have become accustomed to the high amount of salt. The good news is that human taste buds can get used to eating less salt in just a few weeks. If you can’t cut the salt sharply start with a gradual decrease in consumption over the course of 6 weeks.

2. You can tell what foods are high in salt because they taste salty – FALSE
Some foods that are high in salt don’t taste very salty. Breakfast cereals and biscuits are a good example. The large amounts of sugar mask the salty taste. Tip for cooks: if you oversalted a dish, add some sugar to balance out the flavor.

3. You need more salt in hot climates because you sweat so much – FALSE
Even in very hot and humid climates our bodies lose only small amounts of salt through sweat.

4. I would know if I had high blood pressure – FALSE
Many people with high blood pressure have no symptoms, so you can’t assume that your blood pressure is normal if you haven’t had it tested. In England, for example, a third of the population has high blood pressure.

5. I don’t add salt to my food, so I must be OK – FALSE
Over 75% of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy, mostly processed food and food consumed outside the home. Examples: burgers, cereals, soups, sauces, TV dinners, etc..

What to do at the supermarket:

If you really want to cut down on your sodium, start reducing processed foods from your diet.

Buying basic ingredients and cooking at home, lets you control the amount of salt added to a dish. If you find home cooking to be too difficult, look at the nutrition panel of prepared foods you buy and opt for low sodium versions (less than 400mg per serving).

If you are over 40 or suffer from high blood pressure, you need to be extra careful because your daily maximum value is 1500mg of sodium or less, vs. 2300mg for the rest of the population.

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This is Red Lobster’s Admiral’s Feast including: Shrimp, bay scallops, clam strips and fried sole.  Also comes with with creamy lobster topped mashed potato, Caesar salad with dressing, and a complimentary Cheddar Bay Biscuit. Not pictured, but included in the meal: Lemonade.

So just how much salt is inside? Read more…

Unilever, one of the largest food conglomerates in the world, has recently announced it is adopting a holistic approach to sodium reduction in its global food portfolio.

The European based corporation is the owner of famous US brands such as Colman’s (mustard), Hellmann’s / Best Foods (mayonnaise), Knorr (sauces, stock cubes, ready-meals, meal kits, ready-soups, frozen foods), Lipton, Mazola, Ragú (pasta sauces), Skippy  (peanut butter), Slim Fast (diet products), and Wish-Bone (salad dressing). Unilever is also the world’s largest ice cream manufacturer, owning Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Good Humor, and Klondike in the states.

What you need to know:

Salt is composed of sodium and chloride. 1000 mg of salt contain 400mg of sodium. Our bodies need salt but over consumption leads to high blood pressure, hypertension, and other nasty diseases. And boy do we over consume.

Around 75% of the sodium we use is from processed foods. And since most of the food we eat nowadays is processed,  there is no escape.

The modern consumer, pressed for time and looking for convenience, is ingesting almost twice the recommended allowance of sodium per day (2400mg of sodium  is the recommended value).

If manufacturers of processed foods substantially reduce the amount of sodium in their products, it will have an immediate effect on most of the Western world.

Problem is that food tastes better when salty. And since companies don’t want to lose market share by selling unbecoming foods, we have been drowned in salt for decades. No company would like to take the first risky step of sodium reduction, right?

Wrong, Unilever has stepped up.

Though some may say Unilever is taking a foolhardy approach that will hurt its revenues, this is actually a smart move.

Unilever is taking preemptive measures before EU food authorities mandate it. The UK’s Food Standards Authority has already notified manufacturers that by next year (2010) guidelines will be in effect for several food categories. And stricter regulation may follow suite in coming years.

Basically, Unilever is doing something it would have had to do in any case. But by creating a media buzz around it, they gain credibility as a responsible food purveyor and a leader in nutrition.

As an aside, Unilever is also very active in promoting front of package food labeling called “Choices” in Europe. A similar plan, dubbed “Smart Choices”  has been introduced in the US. The idea is to enable consumers to know in a quick glance if a certain food passes a certain nutrition benchmark.

What to do at the supermarket:

The best way to drastically reduce sodium consumption is simply by preparing food at home. If you don’t have time, and do buy canned soups or frozen dinners, opt for the low sodium options. You can always sprinkle a bit more salt on top at home if it is not salty enough for you.

Soup mixes such as Knorr’s can be brutal in terms of sodium content, so watch out. Also, look for salt in strange places like cookies, cereals, and breads. You’d be surprised.

Products with more than 600-800 mg of sodium per serving are to be avoided as much as possible.

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Image via Wikipedia

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has just published the results of a sodium survey conducted in 2005-2006. Sodium (40%) and Chlorine (60%) are the two elements making up table salt.

High consumption of sodium can increase the risk for hypertension, which in turn increases the risk for heart disease and stroke, the first and third leading causes of death in the United States.

According to the CDC,  29% of U.S. adults have hypertension, and another 28% have prehypertension. That’s over half of us with high blood pressure!

Our average sodium intake is 3,436 mg/day(1.5 teaspoons), a whopping 50% higher than the USDA’s recommended 2,300 mg (1 teaspoon) daily allowance for healthy adults.

The recommendation for those in specific groups (people with hypertension, middle-aged and older adults, and all blacks) is to consume no more than 1,500 mg/day of sodium (about 2 thirds of a teaspoon).

Turns out that the special groups are not a small minority, but in fact the majority of consumers -  the lower sodium recommendation was applicable to 69.2% of U.S. adults.

What to do at the supermarket:

70% of the sodium in a Western diet comes from processed food (restaurants and prepared supermarket food). The rest is added while cooking, at the table, or is found naturally in foods. So if you really want to cut down on your sodium, start reducing processed foods from your diet.

Buying basic ingredients and cooking at home, lets you control the amount of salt added to a dish. If you find home cooking to be too difficult, look at the nutrition panel of prepared foods you buy and opt for low sodium versions (less than 400mg per serving).

If you are over 40 or suffer from high blood pressure or African American, you need to be extra careful.

Here is a list of 9 tips for reducing your sodium intake.

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photo credit: dno1967

The presidential election is here. Once in 4 years, we get a chance to decide the country’s future. This election, timed with a severe financial crisis and international restlessness, has led many to declare that the US is ailing and needs to be healed.

But what about each of us? People are ailing too. Six out of ten Americans need to lose weight, 24 million are diabetic, millions are suffering from hypertension and heart disease.

These elections are an opportunity for reflection on personal change as well. Personal change that comes from personal choices.

We choose our president once in four years; we choose our food once in four hours.

No individual vote shapes the future of the country, and no individual food choice will change the shape of someone’s body and health.

But just as the aggregate of all ballots set America’s future, the sum of a person’s food choices over the course of years sets her medical future.

So starting tomorrow, elect to eat better.

Vote for fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean dairy and meat.

Good luck America, and good luck each and every one of us.