Healthy Ohioans
Healthy Ohioans
 
Shake the salt habit

Salt and Sodium
Sodium is one part of salt. It is the part of salt that can raise blood pressure.

Sodium is also found in other things that are added to foods, such as baking soda and monosodium glutamate or MSG. Most of the sodium in our food has been added to it by the manufacturer.

Be a Sodium Detective
Some foods that are high in sodium taste salty. For example, you can tell by the taste that foods like pickles, bacon, or lunchmeat have salt in them. Some foods, such as potato chips and pretzels, have salt on them that you can see.

Other foods may be high in sodium even though they do not look or taste salty. Most frozen dinners, canned soup and other foods, and boxed mixes have added sodium.

How do you know if a food is low in sodium or just an imposter? Look at the label for a clue. If "salt" or "sodium" is in the ingredient list, sodium has been added. The Nutrition Facts box lists the amount of sodium in each serving. Most people should have less than 2400 milligrams (mg) of sodium each day. That’s about the amount of sodium in a single teaspoon of salt.

High Blood Pressure: More than Sodium
Limiting how much sodium you eat can be important even if you have normal blood pressure. A scientific study called the DASH study (for "Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension") showed that eating less sodium helped people lower their blood pressure even if they did not yet have high blood pressure.

The DASH study also showed how the other dietary guidelines can help lower high blood pressure. Besides eating less sodium, people in the study ate plenty of fruits, vegetables and low-fat milk products. They included whole grains every day and ate very little saturated fat.

Here are some simple steps to lower the sodium in your foods.

  • Take the salt shaker off the table.
  • Avoid salty foods such as potato chips, corn chips, pickles, olives, bacon, and salty lunchmeats. Eat these foods less often and in smaller amounts.
  • Choose foods that say "low sodium" or "no salt added."
  • Make more things from scratch.
  • Cook with herbs and spices instead of salt.
  • Don’t give up. Give yourself time to get used to tasting food with less salt.

Additional Information