Last week, I participated in a webinar titled the National Dialogue on Sodium put on by the American Society for Nutrition.  Sodium has been in the news frequently over the past few weeks.  But as you may have noticed, I’ve avoided talking about it here.  The reason?  The discussions around sodium are complex, and there isn’t true agreement amongst health professionals as to the real impact on health or what the recommendation should be for most consumers.  I haven’t addressed the topic as I’m still conflicted about it, so felt like I couldn’t possibly talk to you about it.

But. . . .

There was some interesting information presented on the webinar that I do think will be helpful to you.  First off, we hear generalizations about how much sodium consumers are getting today.  The number most often mentioned is 3,400 mg of sodium in comparison to the 2,400 mg which is recommended by FDA on the Nutrition Facts panel of food labels.  The average consumer gets 42% more sodium than he/she should.  But we live in a world today that centers around personalized service and individualization.  That said, if you split the data, it shows that the average woman gets 2,880 mg of sodium a day and the average man 3,962 mg.  Why the difference?  On average, men eat more calories eat day.

The other interesting information shared is where we’re getting our sodium.  While sodium is found throughout our food supply, based on the level of sodium or the frequency with which they’re eaten, about 50% of sodium intake is coming from these foods (as presented by Victor Fulgoni, III, PhD, Nutrition Impact LLC):

Breads and rolls, Cheese, frankfurters, sausage, lunch meat, condiments and sauces, crackers, popcorn, pretzels and chip, pork, ham, bacon, biscuits, corn bread, pancakes, tortillas, cakes, cookies, quick bread, pastry, pie, soup, broth, bouillon, tomatoes, tomato/vegetable juice.

In this data presented on the webinar, there’s some good news as well as practical tips.  First, the good news – woman are not far off where they should be in sodium intake.  Some minor tweaks in our eating habits can get us to the recommended level.  As to the practical tips, it’s clear that cutting calories is not only an effective way to manage your weight, but also a way to reduce sodium.  Are there simple ways you can cut 100 calories out of your eating habits each day?  Focusing on these top sources of sodium – examining bread labels more closely for sodium content, for example, or choosing the foods listed less frequently (cook chicken breasts on the weekends and use them for sandwiches during the week), can get us closer to the recommended intakes.

Visit NuVal.com to see how high sodium levels can lower scores and low sodium levels can help raise scores.