Posted April 9, 2010
My doctor told me I have high blood pressure and should eat less salt. I don’t add any salt to my food when I cook, but I do eat pre-prepared meals. Can you give me some advice on what I need to watch out for in regard to my salt intake?
A diet high in salt (sodium) can increase your blood pressure. This is because sodium attracts water and increases blood volume, potentially leading to fluid retention and higher blood pressure.
People who are over 50, have high blood pressure, are black, or have chronic kidney disease, congestive heart failure or diabetes, may be sensitive to the amount of salt in their diet.
Most recommendations limit sodium intake to 1,500 to 2,500 mg a day. We think a guideline of around 1,800 mg of sodium is generally a safe bet for most people. When measuring your sodium intake, keep in mind some potential danger foods that may have high sodium levels:
— Processed and prepared foods, canned vegetables and soups, lunch meats and frozen foods. In fact, it is estimated that processed foods account for 75 percent to 80 percent of American salt consumption.
— Pickled, cured and smoked meats.
— Certain condiments such as mustard, ketchup, soy sauce, pickles, salad dressings, steak sauce, Worcestershire sauce, olives and sauerkraut.
— Hidden sources of sodium, which include MSG, baking soda, baking powder, disodium phosphate, sodium nitrate or nitrate.
— Salting foods when cooking. (A single teaspoon of salt has 2,325 mg of sodium.)
How much does the average person take in? Studies have shown we eat at least 25 percent to 30 percent more than the FDA guidelines of no more than 2,300 mg a day.
So where should you start toward your goal of eating less salt? For most of our patients, we recommend starting to read nutrition labels to get an estimate of how much salt they are actually consuming, then gradually changing to the low-sodium version of the biggest offenders.
Low-sodium foods contain less than 140 mg per serving. Moderate-sodium foods have less than 400 mg per serving, and high-sodium foods are those with more than 400 mg. per serving.
Bon appetit — but hold the salt.
Date: April 4, 2010
Drs. Kay Judge and Maxine Barish-Wreden are medical directors of Sutter Downtown Integrative Medicine program. Have a question related to alternative medicine? E-mail adrenaline@sacbee.com.
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