Salt replacement

(See also above under Blood and Cardiovascular)

In 2007 the British Government funded the Food Innovation project to find healthy alterntives to widely used harmful ingredients in mnufactured foods, including sodium chloride (processed salt). The results in 2008 showed Seagreens® not only to provide an ideal balance of all the mineral salts, but to behave as a natural preservative, so increasing shelf life, by significantly inhibiting the growth of microbial pathogens, stabilising the water content and acid-alkaline (pH) balance of the food in which it was an ingredient (190). Seagreens® is a healthy alternative to salt in any food and will not adversely affect taste; rather the food becoms more complex, revealing its real flavours previously obscured by the dominant impact of salt.

In Japan, researchers discovered that when stroke-prone rats were overfed salt, only those also fed seaweed powder did not have strokes; the seaweed was an antidote to excess sodium consumption (27).

A 2003 study in Japan which followed the dietary habits of 40,000 men and women found that the risk of stomach cancer in men with a low-salt intake of 4g to 6g daily was 1 in 1,000 per year, but double in men consuming 12g to 15g per day. The risk for women on a low-salt diet was 1 in 2,000 per year but on a high level diet increased to 1 in 1,300 (93).

Although sodium intake can be reduced in cooking and at the table, almost three quarters of dietary sodium is already added to manufactured foods (75) so diligent shopping is the real solution.

Some leading salt brands and ingredients compared to pure Seagreens® wild seaweeds

Although there are now several artificial ‘low sodium’ salts (around 15% sodium), they all add potassium to compensate. Ruthmol also has high potassium and contains lactose, maize starch & ammonium chloride. Saxa also produce a potassium enriched ‘low-sodium’ salt. People with liver and kidney problems need to be aware of drugs which may alter the body’s ability to metabolise potassium. Patients using Ace inhibitors should avoid potassium as well as sodium as these drugs cause retention of potassium. Medications like diuretics, some of which cause the loss of potassium, may be in part countered by the use of Seagreens® in which potassium is present at about 25mg per gram. Seagreens® potassium/sodium ratio is almost the same as that in the human body and it contains an ideal balance of all the other mineral salts like calcium, magnesium, etc (24).

Only Seagreens® are Certified for use in organic foods to Soil Association and Demeter (biodynamic) Standards.

A biodynamic bakery (Artisan Bread, Kent tel 01227-771881, www.artisanbread-abo.co.uk see under heading Information / seaweed) completely replaced salt with Seagreens® in some recipes and entirely in its sprouted Essene bread. Seagreens Ltd is working with other manufacturers in the UK and overseas to develop new products containing Seagreens® as a certified branded ingredient.

In 2007, the US advocacy group CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest), petitioned the US FDA (Food & Drug Administration) to remove GRAS status (Generally Recognised As Safe) from salt (148) and the following is the summarised conclusion of Dr Joseph Mercola, Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (Illinois, USA): The negative and health impacts of salt have been argued by interest groups for years and it is generaly accepted that industrialised nations consume too much. Although excess sodium has been linked to hypertension (high blood pressure) no scientific studies have proved a link between low sodium diets and reduced risk of heart or other diseases (Eg. An 8-year study of hypertension in New York found subjects on a low-salt diet had 4 times as many heart attacks as people with normal salt intakes). Also, studies are faulty in that they have not controlled for variations in the type and quality of salts involved.

Dr Mercola concludes that the type of salt we use is at issue rather than salt per se. 75% of salt intake in the average diet is from processed foods where the salt used is also generally of the highly processed variety. A high proportion of this is in baked goods like bread. Processed salt is typically 97.5% sodium chloride and 2.5% chemicals (such as moisture absorbents, flowing agents, and iodine which is not the natural inorganic non-radioactive form of iodine in eg. seaweed). Processed salt is dried at very high temperatures (over 1,200oF / 649oC) which alters the ionic structure of the salt. The body can only eliminate excess processed salt if water molecules react with the sodium, breaking it up into sodium and chloride. To neutralise these ions, water is taken from the body’s cells, which may compromise the fluid balance in the cells. For every excess gram of sodium chloride the body uses 23 times the amount of water to neutralise the salt. This can result in cellulite, rheumatism, arthritis, gout, and kidney and gall bladder stones. But there are plenty of natural salts which contain the minerals the body needs and which the body can readily metabolise and expel if surplus to requirement.

In the UK, the FSA (Food Standards Agency) has set recommended limits on consumption and is working with food manufacturers to reduce the amount in processed foods as is the case in the USA and Canada where the CSPI wants salt re-categorised as a food additive instead of GRAS. If applied to all salt irrespective of type and quality this might do nothing to clarify the the core issue which might better concern itself with quality rather than quantity.

Although in response to public and some regulatory pressure, many major brands appear to be reducing salt and other undesirable ingredients in their products, in many cases they make up for the ‘taste deficit’ by adding more sugar and fats, so the overall ‘calorie creep’ and systemic damage may still not achieve the intended health benefits (159).