How much salt is a lot of salt?Lucy Lambriex (Getty Images)
The evidence on the negative effects of sodium on our health is not controversial: it raises blood pressure, which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide and also in the European Union.
So reducing salt in our diet is one of the factors on which we can act to improve our health, to the point that the WHO describes it as one of the best measures in terms of cost-effectiveness.
But, again, the environment does not make it easy for us because it is not about banishing the salt shaker.
We find a path full of traps that make you laugh at the three dangers of the Fire Swamp from
The Princess Bride
.
Although the reward is very similar in both cases: having more ballots to survive.
Trap 1: The salt you drink does not come (mostly) from the salt shaker
A maximum of five grams of salt per day – or two of sodium –, less than a teaspoon of coffee, is what the WHO has established as a figure with which we keep the risks under control.
According to EFSA data, in Spain sodium intake doubles this value: if we do something, let it be in a big way.
The average consumption of men is 11.5 grams of salt per day, while in women it is lower, but still well above what is desirable with an average intake of 8.2 grams of salt per day.
Boys equal the figure for women, and in the case of girls the value is slightly better, but equally high: about seven grams per day.
Even if you have banished the salt shaker from home, it is more than likely that you are within that average, because what has the most weight is not the salt that you consciously add, but the one that you cannot remove because it already comes in the food.
In all?
Yes, but with nuances.
That fresh fruits and vegetables, dried legumes, unprocessed nuts, meat and milk, all the raw materials you can think of have their share of salt.
But, since you are already smelling them, they are not the ones you should worry about because their content is very low (it is estimated that it is between 0.075 and 0.125 grams of salt per 100).
Only fish and fishing products stand out for being saltier, but we are talking about about 0.375 grams per 100, and it's not like you spend the day eating sardines.
To reduce salt consumption you start hereMANUEL BRUQUE (EFE)
So where is the salt “hidden”?
Well, according to the ANIBES study, 70-75% of the salt we consume is found in processed foods, whether “only” processed or ultra-processed – in this article you will find the differences between them – and foods that we consume outside the home.
According to the National Food Consumption Surveys that have been carried out on children and adults (ENALIA and ENALIA 2), the main dietary sources of salt in our country are meat derivatives (sausages and similar) and bread, which together account for 40 % of the total, followed at a distance by the salt that we consciously add, cheeses and dairy products, in a pattern that is repeated throughout the European Union.
Conclusion?
Don't worry about the salt in fresh foods and learn to read the label of processed foods.
Trap 2: Does it have a lot of salt?
It depends on whether the food is solid or liquid.
Before we get into flour with labels, we need a reference for how much salt is too much salt.
Our regulation does not establish how much salt must be in a food to be considered “high in salt”, but in countries like Chile warning seals are used that establish that a food deserves a black seal that discourages its consumption if it contains one gram. of salt per 100 if it is solid and 0.25 per 100 milliliters if it is liquid.
Why is this difference made?
Because the consumption patterns are different depending on the state of the food: we consume more if it is in a liquid format, among other things because the satiety it produces is much less (signals of satiety begin with chewing, as explained in
Why liquid energy results in excessive consumption
).
Do you want an example?
I don't see you eating a four-tomato salad in one sitting, but I have no doubt that you can easily drink a good half-liter bowl of gazpacho, with its four grams of salt.
You just sat down to eat and you have already ingested 80% of the recommended daily maximum of salt.
Yes, vegetable creams and soups give you some scary first courses, but if you buy already made, look for those with less salt - which will continue to have a lot - and be aware that that day you may be overdoing it ( a lot) with sodium.
The black labels that are mandatory in ChileWIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Trap 3: Sodium does not come only from salt (but the label tells you this)
The problem we have with salt is sodium, which is related to adverse health effects.
Salt is clearly the basic vehicle for that sodium, but it is also found in additives such as glutamate (sodium), saccharin (sodium) or ascorbate (sodium).
The good news is that we are talking about foods that will carry a label, and this sodium, which is not in the form of salt as such, is also taken into account to calculate the salt content declared in the nutritional values table.
I'll tell you more: of all the nutrient data that appears on the label, salt is the easiest to interpret.
With fats or sugars we have information that must be put into context: a food can be very high in fat, but this is irrelevant because they are of high quality - as happens with nuts -, or it can have sugars but They are intrinsic and do not pose a problem (which is what happens with dairy products without added sugar).
It is not easy if we are not trained in reading labels and nutritional composition of foods, because it forces us to associate nutrients with ingredients to try to find out where they come from.
05:47
What to look for on a product label to know if it is healthy
With salt there is no doubt, there is no quality salt and harmful salt: salt is salt.
So when you stand in front of the nutritional table, keep in mind the reference of the Chilean stamps: if it is solid and is below one gram of salt per 100, or liquid and below 0.25 per 100 milliliters, It is acceptable.
Above these values, it will be high in salt.
Trap 4: My “reduced salt” deli meat is not low in salt
Stop there!
These types of claims are regulated, and I am afraid that this one specifically does not mean exactly what you think.
The mention can be made in foods in which the amount of salt has been reduced by 25% compared to similar products.
Problem: it is a relative value.
So if the “original” food has salt to prepare the A6 highway for a storm, the content is reduced, that is fine, of course, but it will still have a lot, a lot of salt.
This is what happens in the “reduced salt” versions of olives and pickles, which still have two grams per 100. A value similar to that of smoked salmon and to which “reduced eels” and surimi are also close. in salt” (how can they not taste like the sea! They are like a drink of the Dead Sea itself).
That cooked turkey breast that uses every possible strategy to pass itself off as healthy is not spared either.
Something that they achieve against all logic, taking into account that it is a processed meat and that health entities such as the WHO or the World Cancer Research Fund recommend avoiding it, one of the most paradigmatic examples of how good marketing can determine our collective perception of A food.
Wrapped in a pink container, fat-free, with not direct but not exactly subtle claims, such as 'Take care' or 'BienStar', totally aseptic but very, very tasty, because they have reduced the salt but it is still close to 1.5 grams per 100. Cheeses or some canned fish are also around grams of salt per 100.
What seems so healthy, is not.
We should not confuse this mention, which is relative and depends on how much salt was originally used, with other mentions that are “absolute”: mentions that are not comparing the amount of salt in this food with that of another, but rather tell us about the total amount of salt.
If we find a food with “low salt content” it will have a maximum of 0.3 grams of salt per 100 grams or milliliters.
Even less salt, a ceiling of 0.1, is what there will be in foods with “very low salt content” and an insignificant amount, 0.0125 in those that claim to be “salt-free.”
What if you come across a “no added salt” product?
Well, good news, because it can be limped by something else, but it will have a maximum of 0.3 grams per 100, with the extra requirement that it is salt that the food had naturally, because neither salt nor sodium can be added. nor any ingredient that has added salt or sodium (come on, it can't have anchovies, for example).
The simplest thing in the face of this jumble of statements?
Go to the nutritional table and see directly how much salt it has: there will be no possible confusion there.
Trap 5: “To the touch of salt” seems like a pinch and is a ton
Long live the marketing department and its linguistic juggling to generate unreal images.
I don't know what a "touch" means to you, but I have little doubt that in your head you already have the idea that it has a "caress" of salt, just enough to give it a little innocent flavor, the little bit of joy it needs.
The “touch of salt” or “to the point of salt” are statements that are used especially in
snacks
, which are foods that we recognize as salty (or very salty).
Why highlight salt in a food in which it is already characteristic?
Because, in a triple twist, the claim manages to completely reverse its meaning.
This mention is the wolf in sheep's clothing: it draws your attention to the salt content but in the opposite sense to what the legal claims do: it does not highlight its reduced content or its absence, but rather its presence.
BOOM!
But it is to suggest that it is not like other
snacks
, no, no, no, no no!, this one has the exact amount of salt to delight you without going overboard.
Fried potatoes with (questionable) salt Moeh Aitar
Since “a touch” is not a regulated mention but rather a pure advertising formula, it can take a few shovelfuls of salt.
And that is exactly what happens: in the best of cases we find that they have more or less the same salt as any other snack (1 to 1.5 g of salt per 100 grams, more or less).
But within the same brand we can find “salted” potatoes that have more salt than the “original” version or, take note, those with a “salt and vinegar” flavor.
Who said oxymoron?
When daring already crosses all limits, the “touch” consists of popcorn with four, yes, four grams of salt per 100: I lack hands to applaud the strategy.
If you have arrived here, congratulations;
You've overcome the bubbling fire, the glowing sands and the gigantic-looking rodents: all that remains is the final test, pushing the cart through the supermarket.
No surprises: boiling in salted water increases the salt content.
We will always be in favor of you cooking your pasta or your vegetables because they will have less salt than any version that you can buy half-cooked - or fully cooked - in the supermarket (and this way you can use the ceramic hob, which does not It's just there to take up space in the kitchen).
But if you are in search of flavor like on a Doctor Livingstone expedition, the path of adding salt to cooking water can only lead you to the most obvious destination: having a dish with too much salt.
It seems obvious that if you boil food in salted water, the result will have more salt.
But there are studies that have evaluated to what extent the amount of salt increases.
Spoiler: there are no script twists.
In this test they pointed out that by cooking the pasta in water with about five grams of salt (one teaspoon) per liter, the final dish went from having less than five milligrams of sodium per 100 grams, to 247 milligrams - equivalent to about 0. 62 grams of salt-, regardless of the shape of the pasta, the cooking time or whether it was whole wheat.
If the pasta was rinsed with water after cooking, a third of the salt was removed.
Another similar investigation determined that the increase in salt is linear: the more salt you add to the water, the more salt you will have in your rice, your pasta or your potatoes.
The fundamental role of salt when cooking pasta is to provide flavor, it has no other technological purpose, so if you live on macaroni and boiled rice, it is not a bad idea to reduce the amount of salt you add to the water.
With vegetables it is a different story, since salt does play a role in the result.
Salt accelerates the softening of vegetables because, according to food science expert Harold McGee, sodium replaces the calcium that gives structure to cell walls.
From a nutritional point of view, it can also be interesting to cook with salt, because there is less loss of minerals through osmosis, a chemical phenomenon that causes the mineral concentrations of the cooking water and the vegetables to tend to equalize;
If the water has salt, the concentrations are more similar; if it does not, the minerals from the vegetables tend to move into the water.
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