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>> Look at food labels, compare brands and consider products that have low sodium versions.
>> If you have the time, cook meals from scratch.
>> Try seasonings other than salt. Herbs, garlic and lemon are good options, Lucas said.
>> Eat more fruits and vegetables. They are a great source of low-sodium nutrition.
>> When dining out, ask to have your food prepared without salt. Then if you want to add table salt later, you can.
America's long-standing addiction to processed foods with unhealthy amounts of sodium is a problem without a quick solution, even as food manufacturers and federal agencies push for healthier food options in supermarkets and schools.
Omaha-based ConAgra Foods Inc. announced this month that it will cut the sodium in its consumer products by 20 percent by 2015 in response to people's efforts to eat more healthily.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Institute of Medicine last week released a report that included recommendations to make school meals healthier by reducing salt content by 46.25 percent over the next decade.
Area nutrition experts and food scientists said both moves are steps in the right direction for reducing sodium intake over time.
But are they enough?
“It's a start,” said Marilyn Schnepf, the head of nutrition and health sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “If (ConAgra) goes too far, people won't like their products.”
The Institute of Medicine report, like Schnepf, said it's unrealistic for food processors to make widespread sodium cuts immediately because students no longer would eat the meals. The reductions must be incremental and over time, according to the report.
About 70 percent of Americans consume more than the 2,300 milligrams of sodium recommended as a daily maximum by the National Academy of Science. Sodium is a necessary nutrient, but most people consume an average of 3,400 milligrams daily, which can lead to high blood pressure, according to the Agriculture Department.
About 75 percent of the salt consumed comes from processed foods and meals eaten at restaurants, not the shaker sitting on your kitchen table.
Salt is a natural element in the body, Schnepf said, and in order to taste it there needs to be more salt on your food than in your body. So food producers add more salt to foods, which increases the level of salt in people's bodies, which causes manufacturers to add even more salt, and so on and so on, she said.
That cycle has created an addiction to sodium across the country, said Travis Lucas, a registered dietitian with the Visiting Nurse Association.
“Just like any addiction, because your body gets used to it and you crave it, once you get off it, it's hard to eat foods that don't have sodium in it,” Lucas said. “So, in a way, it is an addiction.”
If Americans could shed their salt addiction, cases of high blood pressure would shrink by 11 million and $18 billion in health care costs could be saved, according to a report published last month by the American Journal of Health Promotion.
ConAgra will cut the salt in its consumer food by 10 million pounds annually over the next five years using three options.
The first option will use “proprietary ingredients,” such as micron salt developed by ConAgra that packs a bigger taste punch with less sodium, said company spokeswoman Teresa Paulsen.
The second option would be to gradually reduce the level of sodium without actually replacing it.
The third approach would use spice mixtures to season foods in place of salt, Paulsen said.
In addition to adding salt to improve taste, food makers also use it to maintain color and texture, as well as for its preservative properties.
Sodium reduction will vary among 20 ConAgra brands. The reduction also doesn't include commercial brands such as Lamb Weston, potato products sold to restaurants and food-service providers.
Since 2006, the company already has removed 2 million pounds of salt from consumer lines including Hunt's Tomatoes and Kids Cuisine, Paulsen said.
ConAgra's Healthy Choice products lead the industry in lower sodium frozen food products and are the only packaged meals that meet the U.S. government's recommendations for healthy sodium levels.
But many of the company's other brands, such as Banquet pot pies, Chef Boyardee canned ravioli and the new Marie Callender's Homestyle Creations, are similar to competitor and generic brands when it comes to sodium content.
Laurie Keeler, a product development specialist at UNL, said ConAgra will pay more to flavor its foods because seasoning substitutes and product research will cost more than the salt the company historically used.
Keeler, who has worked with ConAgra on product and process development in the past, said those increased costs will be passed along to consumers.
“I guess that's just the cost of having healthier products,” she said.
School meal programs also will cost more with the addition of more fruits, vegetables and whole-grain foods, according to the Institute of Medicine recommendations.
During a conference call with reporters Friday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called on Congress to allocate $1 billion per year over the next decade to help reduce sodium in school menus, make offerings healthier and provide nutritious meal options to low-income families.
The legislation is the Obama administration's third priority, behind health care and climate-change legislation, Vilsack said.
“This is a priority for the president. This is a priority for me. And I believe it should be a priority for the country,” he said.
ConAgra said some of the brands it sells to schools, such as Chef Boyardee pasta, will have less salt.
Contact the writer:
444-1414, ross.boettcher@owh.com
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