People’s dependence on salt is not only because of the salty taste on the palate, but more importantly, for the human body itself, salt is also a physiological necessity – salt is sodium chloride, which is composed of a sodium ion and a chloride ion. Sodium ion has the role of maintaining the water balance inside and outside the cell as well as the exchange of substances, while chloride ion is the main component of stomach acid, at the same time, sodium chloride is also responsible for maintaining the body acid-base balance and the role of normal osmotic pressure of body fluids.

Do not eat salt, if the sodium chloride supplement is not enough, there will be a loss of appetite, limb weakness, dizziness and other phenomena, and in serious cases there will be vomiting, tachycardia, muscle spasms, blurred vision and a series of symptoms.

Salt has a “mother of all flavors” reputation, but also used as flavor enhancers, preservatives, etc., salt intake is too high, easy to cause high blood pressure, elevated blood glucose, induced gastric cancer, susceptible to colds, susceptible to cataracts, and so on, the World Health Organization (World Health Organization, referred to as the WHO) recommended that adult The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults should consume no more than 6 grams of salt per day. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Food and Drug Administration, FDA), the U.S. daily sodium intake than the limit of about 1,000 mg more.

Major companies launched salt-reduced products to comply with the trend of salt reduction

In addition to the most common soy sauce, the reporter saw during the visit, bean paste, squash, hot sauce and other seasoning products have also joined the ranks of the “salt” army, even the usual consumption of ketchup is also among them.

Relative to the salt reduction of seasoned sauces boom, squash, pickles and other seasoned small dishes on the low-salt products earlier. As early as 2010, “Sichuan pickle production norms” and other local standards have proposed that the salt content of low-salt Sichuan pickles is less than 4%. And in the mustard industry, some brands of low-salt products to try and layout also broke the “mustard high salt and high preservatives” inherent cognition, so that the original play “savory” products gradually become a meal “small dishes The product has gradually become a “small dish” for meals, which is healthier and also increases the per capita intake of a single meal, and effectively promotes the sales of the product.

What are salt substitute products?

Salt substitute products are seasonings, such as potassium chloride, that replace table salt in order to reduce sodium content.

So far, the closest substance found to the salty taste of sodium chloride is potassium chloride. According to GB 2760 National Standard for Food Safety, Standard for the Use of Food Additives, the maximum amount of potassium chloride added to salt and salt substitute products is 350g/kg.

Since 2012, the Ministry of Health and provincial salt administrations have been promoting low-sodium salt to consumers, which is formulated with about 70% sodium chloride and 30% potassium chloride (i.e. replacing part of the sodium salt with potassium salt).

But it’s far from a perfect substitute: potassium salt isn’t as salty as sodium salt, can have a bit of a bitter aftertaste, and costs quite a bit more than sodium salt.

Is low-sodium salt safe?

Low-sodium salt is safe enough for healthy people. Even if you do exceed your potassium intake, the body has a mechanism to regulate “potassium balance”, and it is very unlikely that supplementing with potassium through food and oral supplements will result in too high a level of potassium in the blood, provided that the body is functioning normally (remember “eat more, drain more” from Biology class? ” from biology class).

In the case of the “death” argument, the problem actually occurs in a specific group of patients with renal failure. In this particular group, it should be said that the risks do need to be considered.

A healthy human body can regulate the potassium level in the body through the kidneys, but for people with severely impaired renal function, this mechanism of regulation and excretion cannot function properly, and it is indeed more likely to lead to hyperkalemia if too much potassium is ingested.

Because potassium is a very important ion involved in cellular electrical signaling, only a proper concentration of potassium can ensure the normal work of the heart and muscles. For this reason, for patients with renal failure, the intake of all kinds of food with high potassium content should be controlled, and the potassium in low-sodium salt should also be taken into account.

Common means of salt reduction

Putting salt late: We have salty taste receptors on our tongue, which interact with sodium ions attached to the surface of the food in order to perceive the salty taste. If salt is put in later, so that the salt floats on the surface of the food has not yet penetrated deep into the interior, but the taste buds on the tongue already feel the salty flavor. In this way, you can reduce the amount of salt at the same level of saltiness.

Put more vinegar: Sourness can strengthen the salty flavor, so putting some vinegar inside or adding tomatoes when cooking can help reduce the amount of salt.

Don’t put sugar: sweet taste will neutralize the salty taste, so the need to control sodium intake of people, it is best to eat less sweet and sour taste or sweet and salty dishes, snacks, but also as little as possible to eat or not eat plums and other candied fruit food, in order to avoid invariably increase the intake of salt.

Plus spices: salty insufficient food is often bland and tasteless, at this time, if the use of pepper, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, chili, onion, ginger, garlic and other natural spices unique aroma and flavor, and then put some appropriate fresh seasonings to enhance the taste sensation, you can make the more bland dishes to become a little more palatable.