Monday, February 09, 2009

How much Sodium is in this?!

Consumer Reports did an analysis of 37 brand name foods to test their sodium content. Four strands of Twizzlers have 200 mg of sodium, and a “Chili’s fajita chicken quesadilla with rice and black beans, sour cream and pico de gallo has 5,300 mg of sodium.” WOW!

Their analysis of the foods showed accurate results of the content of sodium on the nutrition labels. High salt intake can increase blood pressure and other related health issues concerning the human cardiovascular system. Dietary guidelines state that the daily salt intake should be about 2,300 mg, though many Americans consume more than that.

Maybe I should be more careful when reading nutrition labels, especially the sodium content!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/health/05salt.html?ref=fitnessandnutrition

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/food/diet-nutrition/sodium-in-food/surprising-sodium/surprising-sodium.htm?resultPageIndex=1&resultIndex=4&searchTerm=sodium

2 comments:

Natalie Owens said...

That's crazy! I never would have guessed that Twizzlers have sodium in them. This kind of article is what makes me want to cook everything from scratch because only then can you (almost) keep up with all that is in your food.

Do you know if there are any natural sources of salt? I mean, is all the sodium chloride we consume a product that we add to the food? It seems like there would be some in the meats we eat naturally. Is that correct?

Lindsay MacKinnon said...

The New York Times article said that only 10% of sodium consumed is natural. The other 90% comes in the form of table salt, baking soda, monosodium glutamate and other additives.