Opinion

On Consumerism: Reduced sodium does not equal low sodium

By ARTHUR VIDRO
Careful consumers rely on the information provided on food packaging.

Nevertheless, it is easy to be misled.

Let’s take salt. The scientific term for salt is “sodium chloride,” which is usually shortened by advertisers to “sodium.”

Granted, people need some salt in their diets. But few of us are in danger of not getting enough. The overwhelming majority of us are in far greater danger of consuming too much sodium. It takes no effort to consume a day’s worth of salt.

The recommended allotment of sodium for most healthy adults is 2,300 milligrams. However, 1,500 milligrams is the targeted amount needed for those who are over age 50, or African American, or diabetic, or folks with hypertension. Children need even less sodium.

Packaged foods contain a great deal of salt. For instance, a typical can of Campbell’s soup contains all the salt an adult over 50 needs in a day. That’s in the entire can, which contains more than one serving. But the “serving size” on containers is routinely exceeded by American adults.

Even worse are delicatessen meats, such as salami.

If you eat a sandwich three times a day, the bread alone will give you about half your needed salt intake (two-thirds if you’re over 50). What you put on the bread will likely put you in excess of your required salt intake.

A popular but highly salted food is pizza. No surprise there; pizza tastes salty. Pretty much most fast foods and junk foods are highly salted. (The unsalted versions might pass the sodium test, but they’re still empty-calorie junk devoid of nutrients.)

Sodium lurks elsewhere too. Order a Big Breakfast With Hotcakes at McDonalds, and choose the large (instead of the medium) biscuit, and voila, you’ve consumed all the salt a healthy adult needs for one day.

A careful consumer reads the labels, which can be confusing. I’m looking right now at boxes of soup broth.

Imagine’s organic free range chicken broth has a “low sodium” version. It contains 115 milligrams of sodium per one cup serving.

Market Basket’s ready-to-serve chicken cooking broth comes in an “unsalted” version. It, too, contains 115 milligrams of sodium per one cup serving. So there is no difference in this case between “unsalted” and “low sodium.”

However, a box of Pacific Foods’ organic free range chicken broth offers a “low sodium” version that contains only 20 milligrams of sodium per one cup serving. In other words, the Imagine version has more than five times as much sodium as the Pacific Foods version. Yet both are “low sodium.”

Some products claim to be “low sodium” while others cry out “no salt added” and still others profess to have “reduced sodium.” Is there a difference?

Yes, indeed. Turns out in this country to carry a “low sodium” label, the item must have no more than 140 milligrams of sodium per serving. That typical can of Campbell’s soup has 500 to 800 milligrams of sodium per serving.

Over in the canned vegetables section, “low sodium” black beans clock in at 130 milligrams of sodium per serving. Since it’s less than 140, it can carry the “low sodium” banner. But the manufacturer probably added some salt to the product.

Far better are the cans trumpeting “no salt added,” which means what it says. There is some salt, but none was added to the product at any stage. So we find cans of “no salt added” beets, peas, and potatoes, all clocking in at 15 milligrams per serving, and “no salt added” corn at 10 milligrams. For some reason, spinach is saltier; the “no salt added” version has 60 milligrams per serving, while the same brand’s normal version has 120 milligrams per.

Anyone can put the “reduced sodium” label on their product if the labeled item merely has less sodium than some other version. The fresh-sliced “reduced sodium” American cheese I sometimes buy simply contains less sodium (about 20% less) than the company’s standard version. But it is not a low-sodium food.

If you’re keeping track of your sodium, beware of “reduced fat” products. Often when a manufacturer removes some fat, it compensates for the loss in flavor by increasing the salt.

All a consumer can do is keep checking the labels.

Even then, take them with a grain of salt.

If you have consumerism questions, send them to Arthur Vidro in the care of this newspaper, which publishes his column every weekend.

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