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#Post#: 911--------------------------------------------------
Salt in soups
By: agate Date: August 24, 2015, 7:37 pm
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Many of us have been told to watch the salt in our diet. Canned
soups are notoriously high in sodium, and so are many other
foods that people commonly buy in supermarkets.
From Nutrition Action newsletter, August 21, 2015:
[quote]Salt in Soup Gives You More Than Flavor
Why is there so much salt in soup and other canned goods? The
reasons may not be worth the risk.
Bonnie Liebman
About the author, Bonnie Liebman:
Bonnie Liebman, director of nutrition, has been with the
organization since 1977. She holds an M.S. in nutritional
sciences from Cornell University. Liebman has been the key link
in formulating our policies on diet and health. She provides the
scientific input on many of the organization's administrative
petitions and legislative proposals. Liebman is the author of
numerous articles on diet and cancer, heart disease, stroke,
diabetes, and other illnesses for Nutrition Action Healthletter
and a co-author of Salt: The Brand Name Guide to Sodium. She
also served on the advisory committees that issued the American
Cancer Society's 2001 and 1996 Guidelines on Nutrition and
Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention.
Canned soups are loaded with salt. Why is there so much salt in
soup? Because it’s a lot cheaper than the flavorful vegetables,
chicken, herbs, and spices that you would use at home.
Plus, when commercial soups are cooked at a high temperature for
a long enough time to kill potentially harmful bacteria, some of
the natural flavors evaporate. Salt is a cheap, convenient way
to make up for the loss.
It’s not just soup. All canned foods are cooked to within an
inch of their lives at the packing plant. It’s not because
companies don’t know how to regulate their ovens. Canners need
to use a temperature high enough for a long enough time to kill
any harmful germs. Out with the heat goes taste.
Salt in soup gives you more than flavor
What is the problem with all this salt in soup and canned goods?
Salt raises blood pressure, which boosts the risk of heart
attacks and strokes. And high blood pressure, or hypertension,
is epidemic in the United States. What else would you call a
problem that afflicts more than half of people over age 60?
Nevertheless, the food industry keeps dumping salt into our
food, especially restaurant food, as though advice to cut back –
from the Surgeon General, the American Heart Association, and
the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute—didn’t exist.
Soup is one of the worst offenders because it crams so much
sodium—roughly 1,000 milligrams per serving—into a food that
often has just 100 calories.
But soup also has its good points. Your body doesn’t ignore the
calories in soups, as it does the calories in beverages. In
fact, people eat fewer calories—and feel less hungry—on days
they’re fed soup than on days they’re given either beverages or
solid foods.
Researchers aren’t sure why. “Soups may make us feel full,” says
Purdue’s Richard Mattes, “because they’re viewed as nutritive
and substantial.”
How can you enjoy soup without all the salt?
Make your own soup, buy lower-sodium soup, or try this:
Start with a carton of an Imagine Organic Light in Sodium soup
(or other soup with around 300 milligrams of sodium or less per
cup).
Then dump in fresh or unseasoned frozen vegetables. (Sauté them
lightly in olive or canola oil first, if you prefer.)
Voila! It may have more sodium than homemade, but you get less
salt in soup this way—and more vegetables—than in canned soups.
From salt in soup to salt in bread
There isn’t much that goes better with a bowl of soup than a
wedge of fresh, hot bread. But can you cut the amount of salt in
bread? Are you worried that lower-salt bread won’t taste good?
When researchers offered 38 young people bread that was
gradually cut in salt each week, first by 31 and then by 52
percent, they ate no less bread than 39 young people offered
bread with no sodium cuts. Only when the researchers cut salt by
67 percent did the people eat less bread.
However, when the scientists replaced some of the bread’s salt
(sodium chloride) with potassium chloride and yeast extract,
even a 67 percent drop in sodium didn’t curb bread intake.
What to do
Look for lower-sodium breads. Aim for about 100 milligrams or
less per slice. Many breads hover around 200 mg per slice.
Fortunately, grocery stores still sell real foods and homes
still have real stoves. It’s time to buy basic ingredients, read
labels carefully, and take greater control over what we eat.
Sources: J. Nutr. 141: 2249, 2011.[/quote]
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