American researchers introduce healthy salt blend

The US Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has noted that the consumption of salt is much more than necessary in typical American diets – the maximum recommendation per day should be less than 2,300 mg. The average American adult female consumes 2,980 mg per day, while males average a whopping 4,000 mg per day.

In a recent “stealth approach” experiment by Washington State University (WSU), researchers have found a way to substitute salt without compromising the taste of food.

Carolyn Ross, a Food Science professor at WSU, and colleagues studied salt blends with less sodium chloride, the primary salt compound, and instead include others like calcium chloride or potassium chloride. Both these salts are on the bitter side, but have no adverse health effects; potassium has been revealed to help reduce blood pressure.

Tasting panels and WSU’s electronic tongue were used to determine how much salt replacements could be added chloride before deeming food unpalatable – some tasting panels tested a variety of salt solutions, while others tested different salt combinations in tomato soup.

Researchers found that a blend of approximately 96.4% sodium chloride, 1.6% potassium chloride and 2% calcium chloride was the ideal reduction. Consumer acceptance greatly decreased with potassium chloride, however, acceptable reduction rates were observed with a combination of 78% sodium chloride and 22% calcium chloride, and the highest rates by adding only calcium chloride.Ross has explained that although consumers avoid the ‘reduced salt’ option in food, it is possible to increase health while still making good, tasty food.

Gradual reductions in standard salt consumption or using one of the new salt blends for a time could therefore lead to healthier reductions down the road.

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