Too much of sodium (salt) is in our food; where does it come?

It is well known that there are convincing evidences that sodium intake correlates with blood pressure. 1500 mg is the advised intake per day for persons who have high blood pressure. 1300 mg/day for persons 50 to 70 years old and 1200 mg/day for those above 70 years and old are recommended. For all the others a maximum of 2300 mg/day is the right amount. Many take in our world more sodium than they have to take. Many ask me we use very carefully salt and where the possibility to cut more is. The processed foods contain more sodium than we think. Almost many of the sweets have more salt than you think.

In many countries we do not know how much salt is there in the processed food and there are no data available. On the other hand you must know that all the processed food has salt in high amount. Are we addicted to salt or are the food companies responsible? Both are right. If we could reduce the amount of salt intake hundreds of thousands of deaths can be avoided every year in our world that occurs because of heart diseases and high blood pressure.

We see some of the examples from USA here and they include:

• White bread .....................................130 to 230 mg sodium per slice
• Spaghetti rings .................................850 to 1070 mg sodium per cup
• Spaghetti sauce .................................310 to 770 mg per half-cup
• Tomato soup .....................................380 to 1900 mg per cup
• Soy sauce .......................................920 to 1260 mg per tablespoon
• Cheese ..........................................270 to 390 mg per slice
• Cheese pizza ....................................1080 to 2340 mg per pizza
• Pepperoni pizza .................................1740 to 2700 mg per piece
• French fries ....................................220 to 640 mg, medium size
• Fried chicken dinners ...........................1010 mg to 2160 mg per pack
• Potato chips ....................................160 mg to 370 mg per ounce
• Breakfast sandwiches ............................730 mg to 1290 mg
• Chicken nuggets .................................450 to 1590 mg
• Caesar salad with grilled chicken ...............1320 to 1610 mg

All the sweets, cakes, biscuits and others have high amount of sugar. We see few examples here and they include:

• Corn flakes .....................................1170 mg per 100 g
• Fruit cake ......................................250 mg per 100 g
• Cake, plain .....................................380 mg per 100 g
• Fruit pie .......................................210 mg per 100 g
• Jam tart ........................................230 mg per 100 g
• Muesli ..........................................270 mg per 100 g
• Margarine .......................................840 mg per 100 g
• Bacon, rashers, fried ...........................1870 mg per 100 g
• Ham canned ......................................1250 mg per 100 g
• Luncheon meant, canned ..........................1050 mg per 100 g
• Salami, slices ..................................1850 mg per 100 g
• Cheese, camembert ...............................1410 mg per 100 g
• Danish blue .....................................1420 mg per 100 g
• Parmesan .........................................760 mg per 100 g

Processed foods throughout the world contain too much sodium.

Think of the salted fish or salted dry meat or the different pickles used in Asia or the spices. These have also excess salt and thus sodium.

We need sodium and without sodium we cannot live. But, the dose makes the poison. Cook your food freshly or take lot of fruits and vegetables. Raw food is also very good; this is a best reason to eat salad every day.

Teach your children from the beginning that too much of sodium is bad for health. Once they come in contact with the taste of sodium, they can become addict to salt.

What are the right foods for a pregnant?

There is no need to eat for two during the pregnancy. It is recommended that for the first trimester the food intake should remain about the same as it was prior to the pregnancy. During the second and third trimesters the food intake should be increased upto 30%. It is easy to achieve this with more fruits intake.

It is important to eat variety of foods to ensure the nutritional needs of both mother and the baby. The recommendations include:

• Fruits and vegetables very generously
• Whole grain products and cereals, but not milled grain products
• Milk and dairy products should not be eaten in excess
• Lean meat, chicken and fish in moderate amounts
• Avoid excess intake of fats, sugar and salt
• Beans, pulses, nuts and seeds
• Drink enough water

Do not diet if you are a pregnant. This bad for you as well as to your baby. Green leafy vegetables are very important for the intake of folic acid. Folic acid supplement is recommended for the health of your baby. It is better to consult your doctor before you take a supplement.

With proper food it is possible to manage the iron content of your body also. Iron supplement could be taken only if your doctor recommends it.

Avoid excess of vitamin A intake and vitamin A supplements are not required. The excessive intake of vitamin A may cause birth deformities.

What is the recommended amount of daily intake of salt? What are the effects if you take more or no salt at all?

Salt is important to live. Cooking salt is sodium chloride. Sodium and chloride are important to our body. It controls the functions of the muscles and nerves in our body. It is also important to regulate the water and mineral balance in our body without which the cell could not get nutrients and the wastes could not be removed from the cells.

The daily recommended intake amount is two to three grams per day. But unfortunately people are taking 3 to 10 times more. Particularly our south Indian food contains lot of salt. Think about the salted fish, the lemon or mango or chilly or vegetables or fish pickles…these have tons of salt. The biggest problem is without salt our food is not at all tasty.

The big danger is not only fast, junk and processed foods but also the sweets including cakes, biscuits and even corn flakes. These contain also lot of salt. A good sweet will not be tasty without salt. If we have problems with blood pressure or other problems with the heart it is better to avoid fast, junk and processed food totally. In Tamil Nadu we make lot of dried chillies or other vegetables or onion vadagams with lot of salt. These must also be avoided.

If it is so important where are the problems? There are two important problems and they are

• Sodium retains water in our body and this is not good for the heart as well as for the cells. Lot of water in the body means more work for the heart.
• Too much of salt narrows the arteries and this means once again more work for the heart. In both cases the blood pressure shoots up and this is one of the serious risk factor for heart attack and stroke.

It is better to put half the amount of salt to your meals. It is not at all necessary to put salt to the rice because we use salt in all other side preparations.

Never keep table salt during your meals.

Before excretion between the connection between kidneys and brain a part of sodium is absorbed back to body. This shows clearly the importance of salt for our body to live.

When I buy some processed food I found a lot of information in the label, but what are the important ones for me?

The calories present in that food, fat, sugar and salt content are important. Moreover, information about the chemicals as additives or colouring agents and the nature of the food, whether it is radiated or genetically manipulated.

All other matters are only advertisement for the industry. Many western countries try to make this a law, the lobbyists are working against this in many countries, but to our surprise Great Britain has this law as a traffic light system, green is good, yellow, not very good and red may be a colour of love but it is the worst. If we can achieve this it is easy for you to avoid all these bad foods for our health, no wonder the food industry is against this. Only the knowledge and thus avoiding these foods has a deciding effect on the industries because only the unsold products make them to change their policy and products.

How can sodium (salt) increase the blood pressure?

We all know that sodium is important for our health. Moreover, we eat lot of salted food and this applicable to all countries in our world.

Processed, junk and fast food also contain too much salt. Sweet food like corn flakes also contain too much of salt. It is not different from other bakery products like cakes, biscuits and others. Chips and salted nuts also contain too much of salt. Everybody in this world take 3 to 9 times more sodium than the recommended daily in take.

Sodium narrows the blood vessels, the heart must pump more and the blood pressure goes up.

Moreover, sodium can also retain more water in our body. The blood is diluted, the amount is increased and more pressure is needed to pump the blood properly. The blood pressure goes up.

Less sodium is dangerous for our health. It regulates the water balance in our body. If you stop completely it is deadly.