Should we be adding nutrition to New York’s list of leadership roles in addition to finance, tourism, and entertainment?

After paving the path with calorie labeling in fast food restaurants, banning trans-fat, shocking us with anti-soda pop ads, and then suggesting a tax on sugary drinks, the city’s department of health circa January 2010 is all about salt reduction.

In a press release yesterday, the health department announced a plan for voluntary reduction of salt from packaged foods and in restaurants of 25% over the next 5 years. The National Salt Reduction Initiative, is a New York City-led partnership of cities, states and national health organizations, that plans to work with the industry to achieve this goal. Precedents exist on national levels, most notably in Finland, which nearly halved sodium consumption over several decades starting in the 1970’s.

What you need to know:

A bit of salt is good, both for our body and our food enjoyment. The problem for many Americans is that the bit-of-salt has become too-much-salt, almost twice as much as we need to consume. And the excess is not doing us any good:

• Diets high in salt increase blood pressure, a leading risk factor for heart attacks and stroke.
• These conditions cause 23,000 deaths in New York City alone each year – more than 800,000 nationwide – and cost Americans billions in healthcare expenses
• Most Americans eat almost twice the recommended limit of salt each day.
• Even people with normal blood pressure benefit from lowering their salt intake.

Over 70% of the salt we consume comes from processed foods, whose manufacturers have been under a certain pressure to reduce their salt content for several years. Their big problem is who’ll jump into the cold water first. You see, our collective taste buds are currently wired to extra-salty. If one manufacturer decides to dramatically decrease the salt value in its foods while the others don’t , it stands a chance of falling out of f(l)avor with consumers and losing market share.

That’s why a coordinated effort where all manufacturers are required to reduce sodium gradually over time may be a good idea.

Incidentally, in the food industry’s praise (which is not something Fooducate often doles out) some manufacturers have been reducing sodium content gradually and quietly over the last few years. It’s interesting to note the stark difference in approach in canned soup, a notoriously sodium laden product, between Campbell’s and Progresso. Both are reducing their salt content but while the former proudly boasts the sodium reduction on its products and marketing materials, the latter is keeping mum.

What to do at the supermarket:

While we wait for salt values to enter orbit, let’s not fool ourselves into complacency. Salt is still a big issue and even after the proposed reduction values will be higher than necessary. The fastest way to lose the salt is to eat less processed foods. If you do buy prepared foods, look at the sodium values and compare.

A good number to remember is 600mg per serving. Lower is better, higher is not.

PS – enjoy the video of Alicia Keys singing about NY. Not directly related to nutrition or nutrition, but probably one of the best thing in music in a long while…

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General Mills published a press release last week heralding a new line of Frozen TV Dinners, branded Wanchai Ferry. The lineup includes 5 flavors: spicy garlic chicken, orange chicken, sweet & spicy shrimp, sweet & sour chicken, and shrimp lo mein. Just for fun, we took a look inside the label of the spicy garlic chicken. Read more…

Image: Campbell Soup Company

Last week, Campbell Soup Company reintroduced 12 of its popular canned soups for children, reformulated to be considered healthy by FDA standards:

…12 Campbell’s® Kids soups, reformulated to contain 480 milligrams of sodium per serving.

Now popular favorites [...] meet the government criteria for “healthy” foods – controlled for fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and being a good source of a positive nutrient like vitamin A.

The newly-reformulated soups are the latest to come to market as part of Campbell’s ongoing commitment to wellness, for a total of 78 soups in the portfolio at the healthy levels for sodium. By leveraging a combination of unique, lower sodium natural sea salt and expertise in flavor design, Campbell has been able to deliver lower sodium options without sacrificing taste.

Read the Press Release…

What you need to know:

For years, using salt was a cheap and easy way for manufacturers to mask the canned flavor of commercial soups. However, due to high levels of consumption, salt is now recognized as a serious threat to public health. Americans consume almost twice the recommended daily allowance of 2400mg (a teaspoon) a day. This leads to high blood pressure and related ailments.

Reducing salt is a good move by Campbell’s, in line with its strategy to refurbish a tarnished image of canned soup as a mega warehouse for MSG and sodium.

Taking for example, the Disney Princess Pasta Shapes soup, Campbell’s has reduced sodium from 580mg to 480mg per serving, and eliminated monosodium glutamate completely.

However, the bit about unique, lower sodium natural sea salt is marketing hype. There is no nutritional difference between sea salt and regular salt (derived from rock salt mineral deposits). True, the flavor may slightly differ when shaken on to food, due to tiny amounts of additional minerals found in sea salt. But the amount of sodium is the same.

Also in the reformulation, the calorie count actually went up from 70 to 80 calories per serving, but this is negligible.

What to do at the supermarket:

Thinking about making your own soup but afraid to try? Soup is actually one of the easiest foods to prepare because it is very tolerant to mistakes by beginners. Scoot on over to the produce section and get some carrots, celery, pumpkin, zucchini, and onions. At home, wash, peel, dice, and throw into a pot of boiling water. Let cook for a few hours, add pepper and salt, and your soup is ready. Much tastier than canned soup, and guaranteed to contain less sodium.

OK, this week you don’t have time. In this case, look for soups with a reduced sodium level, preferably 480mg or less per serving.

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From the FDA:

General Mills is voluntarily recalling a single day’s production of Progresso Hearty Tomato soup because of a product labeling issue. Product produced on this date may have been mislabeled, and may contain allergens not listed on the ingredient label, specifically egg, milk, and soy.

There have been no reports of allergic reactions or illnesses associated with this product, however, the possibility of unlabeled allergens makes this a Class One recall.

This voluntary recall includes only 19-ounce Progresso Hearty Tomato soup with the following code date printed on the bottom of the can:

19May10 NV VN-3

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Image via Wikipedia

The chilly autumn evenings are an invitation for a hot bowl of soup. Two of the biggest canned soup manufacturers are also heating up the advertising wars between them. Campbell’s and Progresso have taken up newspaper ads extolling their health benefits, with Progresso recently boasting 26 soups sin monosodium glutamate.

From Marion Nestle’s blog:

Pity the poor makers of canned soups. Canning blands out the taste so they add grams of salt to cover the blandness. But less salt is healthier, so the companies add MSG (monosodium glutamate) instead.

Only now they’re taking out MSG as well.

What you need to know:

MSG is considered safe by the FDA and other health agencies around the world. However there are health controversies surrounding it since the 1960’s and some people just don’t want to take a chance. The Progresso marketers are playing on our MSG fears with their MSG free lineup. The best solution? Prepare your own soup at home. It’s easy, tastier, and healthier.

What to do at the supermarket:

For those who prefer the convenience of canned soup – If you are sensitive to MSG, or plain don’t want it in your soup, just look out for monosodium glutamate in the ingredient list. Also look for high levels of sodium. Campbell’s low-sodium version has 660mg, which is over a quarter of the recommended daily intake.