11 minute read
Salt Reduction becomes necessary as mounting research associates the seasoning with poor health outcomes
By Abel Ndeda
Salt, one of the oldest and most ubiquitous food seasonings, is essential for life in general, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. The mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl) has a special place on many dinner tables globally. Without it, most of our foods from breakfast to dinner would be bland. Concerns are, however, emerging that maybe we love our salt a little too much. In 2016, research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that 90% of children and 89% of adults in the U.S. consume more than the recommended sodium levels. A year later, CDC researchers found that 71% of the salt consumers eat is found in processed and restaurant foods, but only 5% of the salt consumed is added at the table.
HEALTH CONCERNS ASSOCIATED WITH SALTS
Regardless of the source, we are taking too much salt and health professionals are worried. You see, too much salt is associated with an extensive list of illnesses, including
hypertension, and it is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease. According to a study published in European Heart Journal, consumers who always add salt to their food have a 28% higher risk of premature death compared to those who never add the seasoning. The study, which surveyed 501,379 people who filled out a questionnaire on the frequency of adding salt to foods on the UK Biobank, adds that men who said they always add salt lost an average of 2.3 years of their lives, while women who always add salt lost an average of 1.5 years.
According to the 2017 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study, a diet high in sodium is ranked as the leading dietary risk factor for deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) globally. The study adds that habitual consumption of excessive sodium, most commonly through the consumption of salt, predisposes individuals to hypertension, which is a major risk factor for CVD, the leading cause of premature death worldwide.
Letting go of salt is, however, not as easy as ABCD. Apart from the use of salt in small quantities in our households, this important additive is used on a large scale in different food companies for various reasons. It flavors food and is used as a binder and stabilizer. It is also a food preservative, as bacteria can't thrive in the presence of a high amount of salt. salt also plays other, lesserknown roles in the food we eat as an essential nutrient, color enhancer, and texture improver.
THE CALL FOR REDUCTION
The association of salt with poor health is certainly a source of concern to nutritionists and other health sector players. In April this year, a group of over 236 nutritionists, dietitians, researchers, pharmacists, nurses, and GPs joined together to call on the UK Government to prioritize a health policy for the food industry by introducing comprehensive and mandatory salt targets. Addressing the government, the group said most salt intake comes from purchasing food, with processed foods contributing to 75% of daily salt intake. They added that despite the Food Standards Agency successfully setting voluntary salt reduction targets in 2004 across more than 80 categories of processed food, "progress has since stalled."
Led by the Heart and Stroke Foundation SA and including experts in the field of salt reduction, the Association for Dietetics in South Africa (ADSA), the Nutrition Society of South Africa (NNSA), and the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa, Salt Watch has a created a lobby group for South Africa health watch. The lobby is working in association with World Action on Salt and Health (WASH) to launch a major national awareness campaign in trying to push for salt reduction in South Africa and create an awareness of healthy living amid changing lifestyles among the people.
KEY NUMBERS
2.3
AVERAGE NUMBER OF YEARS LOST BY MEN WHO ALWAYS ADD SALT TO THEIR FOOD
Even as more countries, including UK and Kenya, are now opting for structural or regulatory approaches, efforts must be urgently accelerated and replicated in more rigorous monitoring and evaluation of strategies to achieve the salt reduction target of 30% by 2025 set by WHO.
POLICIES AND LEGISLATIONS PUT IN PLACE BY STATES TO REDUCE SALT INTAKE
Among the regulations in place to foster salt reduction include salt taxation in Fiji, Hungary, Mexico, Saint Vincent, the Grenadines, and Tonga. In these countries, the tax on high-salt foods is being implemented as part of a broader set of taxes that cover other nutrients or foods. For example, in Mexico, an 8% tax is applied to nonessential foods that exceed energy density limits, including salty snacks. An additional 5 countries, namely the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Indonesia, Palau, and Thailand, are also considering salt taxation. In Thailand, the government proposed a salt tax (2019) that will target salty foods such as frozen products, canned foods, and instant noodles while in Portugal, a proposed tax on foods high in salt was considered in 2018 but ultimately not approved by the Parliament.
Where legislation is not in place, some countries have instructed any food processor to have a front-of-pack labeling scheme that accounts for sodium or salt content. The schemes include endorsement logos and symbols, percentage daily intake or guideline daily amount, traffic lights, ratings, and health messages, aimed at informing consumers about the amount of salt in a product. Examples of endorsement logos and symbols used in different countries are the healthy choices logo, the keyhole logo, the heart symbol, the healthy living guarantee mark, and the protective food logo. Rating systems such as the Health Star Rating and Nutri-score are being used in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, and France, respectively. In Kenya, the law mandates the label to declare the category of reduced salt as either ‘low salt’ or ‘very low salt’ or ‘saltfree, and the declaration shall be close to the name of the product.
Food and Drug Administration, a US agency under the
CONSUMERS WHO ALWAYS ADD SALT TO THEIR FOOD HAVE A 28% HIGHER RISK OF PREMATURE DEATH COMPARED TO THOSE WHO NEVER ADD THE SEASONING, ACCORDING TO A STUDY PUBLISHED IN THE EUROPEAN HEART JOURNAL
Department of Health and Human Services, has a dietary guideline for Americans, that recommends limiting sodium intake to 2,300 mg per day for people 14 years and older: and even less for those 13 years and younger. In the UK, the government has implemented the High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS) advertising legislation to come into effect later in September/ October this year to help consumers achieve and maintain a healthy weight. The legislation, through introducing and reworking products to be HFSS compliant, will take away the lure created by advertising for non-HFSS compliant products. The foods affected will include soft drinks, pizza, bagged snacks, cakes, desserts, ice cream, chocolates, biscuits, sugar confectionery morning goods, milk-based and juice-based products with added sugar, ready-to-eat Meals, bread and battered Products, and potato products. To encourage further efforts of this kind, PAHO/WHO's SaltSmart Consortium last year approved an action plan that recommends measures including publicawareness campaigns to educate consumers about food labels, and negotiations with food processors on voluntary reductions in the salt content of their products.
Efforts by the government are necessary, as many consumers are unable or unwilling to regulate the amount of salt they take. A global survey by The Ajinomoto Group found that 64% of U.S. consumers know salt is bad for them, but only 41% try to control their intake. Limiting their access to salt is thus the only effective way that nations have to reduce the daily salt intake of many consumers.
INVENTIONS AND INNOVATIONS IN SALT REDUCTION
Taste is key in the acceptability of any food. Removing salt from foods would leave many foods bland and unattractive to many consumers. To promote population-level salt reduction, the World Health Organization recommends intervention around three core pillars: reformulation of processed foods, consumer awareness, and environmental changes to increase the availability and affordability of healthy food. When it comes to reformulation, potassium chloride (KCl) is turning out to be a God-send alternative. Many manufacturers are now using potassium chloride when formulating low-sodium or reduced-sodium products. According to flavor supplier Morton Salt, pure potassium chloride acts as a replacement for salt and as a taste enhancer, processing agent, stabilizer, gelling agent, and preservative. The salt, according to Morton, is suitable for a broad range of products, including meats, soups, sauces, snacks, dairy, prepared meals, sides, bread, and baked goods. Where complete salt replacement is not practical, a blend of equal parts of high-purity, food grade, granular sodium chloride, and potassium chloride is used. According to Morton salt, this blend “imparts a similar degree of saltiness and functionality as common salt while contributing only half the sodium”. Recently, researchers
in the Netherlands studied the dietary impact of replacing various levels of sodium chloride and concluded that replacing sodium chloride with potassium chloride, particularly in key sodium-contributing foods, would help the general population better meet recommended sodium reductions and potassium intake guidelines.
Another viable alternative to salt in foods is monosodium glutamate. According to the CEO and co-founder of Whole30, Melissa Urban, monosodium glutamate (MSG) enhances the flavor in foods, bringing out the savory, or umami, qualities. MSG contains about one-third of sodium as salt, proving that opting for MSG instead of salt reduces sodium consumption. The Food and Drug Administration
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(FDA) has declared MSG to fall under the generally recognized as safe, or "GRAS" umbrella.
Potassium chloride does taste a bit salty, but too much of it and you taste a metallic bitterness. MicroSalt, a US company, is working to help manufacturers reduce salt without necessarily having to resort to potassium blends. The company uses a patent-protected technique to reduce the size of the salt particles, increasing the surface area that comes into contact with the tongue and thus increasing perceived saltiness. Smaller quantities of table salt can thus be used without impacting taste. MicroSalt says the technique can be used to reduce the amount of salt used in dry topical applications, such as chips, tortilla chips, nuts, crackers, and popcorn, without altering the final taste. According to the company, it performs better than table salt for product adhesion thanks to the microsize of the salt particles.
For the radical formulators, new technologies are emerging that promise to deliver greater salt reductions without compromising on taste. One such technology is microwave-assisted thermal sterilization (MATS). The technology out of Washington State University uses microwave technology to kill any pathogens in food. Researchers have, however, found that with MATS it could be possible to reduce sodium while maintaining safety and tastiness. The researchers, including WSU's Sasha Barnett, Shyam Sablani, and Juming Tang, found that MATS-prepared mashed potatoes could have up to a 50 percent reduction in salt but still be enjoyable to the tasting panel.
As researchers in WSU focus on processing technologies, those in Japan are taking a more radical strategy. To also reduce salt intake and the eventualities it causes, scientists claim that knives and forks that send an electrical current to the tongue can enhance the saltiness and possibly the savouriness of low-sodium foods and may help millions stick to a lowsodium diet without sacrificing taste. With this in mind, researchers at Meiji University and Japanese food and beverage company Kirin have designed a chopstick-like device that uses a weak electrical charge to stimulate how the tongue experiences saltiness. The scientists say the developed commercially available chopstick-shaped device for daily use by those following a low-sodium diet or trying to reduce their salt intake can be adapted for Western cutlery.
SALT REDUCTION IS POSSIBLE
The rising number of solutions to salt reduction is proof enough that salt reduction is indeed possible. From the age-old swapping of sodium with potassium to more recent solutions such as MicroSalt and MATS, salt reduction at the food industry level is possible. It is good that these solutions are coming to market when there is an ever-expanding list of jurisdictions curtailing high salt use in processed food. This means that mandatory reformulation does not have to extensively impact flavor. Solutions from companies like MicroSalt give hope that salt reduction strategies can
even extend to home applications. We are positive that soon, healthconscious consumers will no longer have to be worried that foregoing salt in their soup will have them eating bland food that tastes almost like dishwater FBA
