Sara and I are both huge fans of salt; have dinner with us and you’ll notice us shaking some on our plates to dip bread in, and more often than not, sprinkling a little on our meals too.
Which is why I hate reading bad news about salt and health–like the wealth of research showing that salt can increase blood pressure, and newer studies linking excess sodium to osteoporosis.
But I recently stumbled across a new study that left me hopeful. Researchers from the University of California San Francisco, Stanford University Medical Center and Columbia University Medical Center revealed that cutting out just a little salt–instead of totally removing it from your diet–can give you a major health boost. In fact, they determined that if Americans reduced their salt intake by as little as one-half teaspoon (that’s 1,200 mg) daily, it would prevent nearly 100,000 heart attacks and 92,000 deaths a year. Not too shabby for a minor, easy change.
Here’s how to reduce your daily salt intake by half a teaspoon or more:
- Eat fewer processed foods, which are the single highest source of sodium in the American diet. The worst culprits include tomato sauce, soup and condiments.
- Trade canned food for frozen–or even better, fresh. Even “low-salt” canned foods have a lot of sodium (and as I pointed out last week, they have that pesky BPA problem). When you do choose canned, be sure to rinse the food before eating it.
- Invest in a good container of sea salt. There’s debate about whether sea salt has less of a negative effect on cardiovascular health, but it doesn’t contain aluminum, which is definitely something you don’t want to be consuming in large quantities. Plus, many chefs and dietitians say that it’s more flavorful than regular table salt–so it’s easy to use less of it.
For more ways to cut back on sodium, check out this American Heart Association link.
–Camille
