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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Highly processed foods – soda, cookies, candy, chips, prepared meals, pizza, and ready-to-heat dishes – make up more than 60% of the groceries we buy. Most of these foods have more fat, sugar, and salt than fresh or minimally processed choices. Plus, most are low in potassium, a mineral lacking in the American diet.
Getting shoppers to make a major shift in the foods they regularly buy is a tough sell. Families are busy. No one eats on the same schedule. Few people have time to cook and many don’t own the skills to prepare foods. Understanding that these hurdles are there, well-meaning public health officials still push guidelines that few, if anyone, meets.
Dr. Adam Drewnowski, professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington looked at the current World Health Organization (WHO) daily recommendations for sodium and potassium from a multi-country prospective. WHO recommends we eat no more than 2,000 milligrams of sodium a day, which would equal less than one teaspoon of salt. WHO further recommends 3,510 milligrams of potassium a day. The recommendations are suggested to lower the worldwide risk for heart disease and stroke.
When Drewnowski (http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/3/e006625.full) looked at the national food surveys in the US, France, Mexico and the United Kingdom, less than 0.5% of populations meet the WHO dietary targets for sodium and potassium. He felt the targets were out of reach for most populations in the world.
Sodium as an additive or as part of salt is widely used in processed foods. In fact, 75% of the sodium we eat comes from processed foods and restaurant choices (http://asn-cdn-remembers.s3.amazonaws.com/b60c1086fc796ccb8b102b3e9ab03285.pdf). More than half of these foods fail to meet the FDA sodium-per-serving condition for labeling as a healthy choice – less than 600 milligrams for meals and less than 480 milligrams for individual foods. More than 70% of pizza, 50% to 70% of cold cuts, soups, and sandwiches we regularly buy exceed these guidelines. It is easy to see why more than 90% of US adults eat more sodium a day than is recommended.
When it comes to potassium the problem is we eat too little. It is estimated that most adults in the US eat less than 2,000 milligrams each day. That is not surprising since we also eat too few fruits and vegetables, especially rich sources – apricots, bananas, carrots, corn, citrus fruits, dried beans, leafy greens, melons, potatoes, tomatoes and raisins. Fish, milk, nuts and yogurt are other rich sources.
Bottom line:
Drinking more milk, snacking on nuts and eating more fruits and vegetables would easily boost your potassium intake.
Cutting down on ready-to-heat-and-eat foods, ordering less pizza, and cooking at home would help cut back on sodium.
You may not meet the WHO dietary guidelines for sodium and potassium but you will go a long way toward eating a more heart healthy diet. As Dr. Drewnowski so aptly said, “Dietary guidelines, especially global health guidelines, need to set targets that are reasonable.” The advice above is a reasonable place to start.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with sales of more than 8.5 million books.
Look for:
The Diabetes Counter, 5th Ed., 2014
The Fat and Cholesterol Counter, 2014
The Most Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2013
The Calorie Counter, 6th Ed., 2013
The Complete Food Counter, 4th ed., 2012
The Protein Counter, 3rd Ed., 2011
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
Your Complete Food Counter App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-complete-food-counter/id444558777?mt=8
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to: www.TheNutritionExperts.com.
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