Posted Feb 3, 2010
Subtract half a teaspoon of salt from your daily diet.
That’s the simple recipe for public health benefits on par with reducing high-cholesterol diets, smoking and obesity, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
If U.S. adults would decrease their daily salt intake by just 3 grams — about half a teaspoon — there would be between 54,000 and 99,000 fewer heart attacks each year and between 44,000 and 92,000 fewer deaths, according to research conducted by scientists at University of California San Francisco, Stanford University Medical Center and Columbia University Medical Center.
Regulations designed to reduce Americans’ daily salt intake by 3 grams could save as much as 194,000 to 392,000 “quality-adjusted life-years” and $10 billion to $24 billion in health care costs annually, the study says.
But Americans like their salt. The recommended daily allowance of sodium in an average person’s diet is about 2,300 milligrams — yet many Americans eat about 6,000 to 10,000 milligrams per day.
A salt “intervention” would save money, even if only a modest reduction of 1 gram per day were achieved gradually between 2010 and 2019 — and it would be more cost-effective than using medications to lower blood pressure in all people with hypertension, according to the study.
Oklahoma’s official “state meal” includes chicken-fried steak, barbecued pork, corn bread, biscuits, sausage and gravy, fried okra, squash, black-eyed peas, grits, corn, strawberries and pecan pie — an estimated whopping 5,250 milligrams of sodium.
That, plus 2,700 calories and 125 grams of fat is why Oklahoma Sen. Brian Crain recently filed legislation to rescind the state meal adopted by the Legislature in 1988.
“The policies of the state of Oklahoma should promote the health and welfare of its citizens,” says Senate Concurrent Resolution 36.
It also points out that Oklahoma ranks 49th in the nation for overall health by the United Health Foundation.
New York hopes to lead the nation in reducing sodium in packaged foods and restaurant meals. Earlier this month, the city unveiled its “National Salt Reduction Initiative,” a plan to impose sodium recommendations — first in New York, then eventually throughout the nation.
The initiative is a coalition of cities, states and health organizations working to help food manufacturers and restaurants voluntarily reduce the amount of salt in their products, with a goal of reducing Americans’ salt intake by 20 percent over five years.
For the one in four American adults with high blood pressure, such restrictions could also help them stay under the recommended limit of 2,000 to 2,300 milligrams per day.
A grain of salt Packaged and processed foods eaten at home, including lunch meats and canned soups, are some of the worst sodium culprits in our diets, said dietitian Cassie Wrich of Hillcrest Exercise and Lifestyle Program.
The majority of the sodium we eat — 77 percent — comes from processed and prepared foods.
Check food labels and you may find that your lunch meat contains half a day’s worth of sodium, or that a single cup of ramen noodles can equal your entire recommended daily allowance.
Watch out for misleading labels such as “reduced sodium” or “no added salt” — those don’t mean products are lowsodium, Wrich said.
Fresh or frozen vegetables are the best option for lowsodium diets, but if you’re using canned, drain and rinse them to reduce the sodium content, she said. Try using fresh garlic or no-salt herb blends to season your food instead of salt or salt blends, and know that your taste buds will eventually adjust to eating food with less salt. Our taste for salt is acquired, so it is reversible.
Cary Aspinwall 581-8477 cary.aspinwall@tulsaworld.com
Date:Jan 28, 2010
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