Sodium | Healthy Families BC

Blog Sodium

What is in a Name? The Case of Salt and Sodium.

July 19, 2011 by Dean Simmons, Registered Dietitian | Posted in: Sodium | Tags: did you know?, Sodium

Comments (1)

Have you ever thought about words and what they mean? Many words have several different meanings depending on the context in which they are used. For example take the word “salt”. ‘Salt’ is commonly used to refer to one specific kind of salt, called sodium chloride (NaCl) or table salt. However, because salt has an important place in our history there are also a number of phrases using the word salt with different meanings than ‘sodium chloride’. For example you might have heard “take it with a grain of salt”, “to be worth one’s salt”, or to “salt away for future use”.

Sometimes the words “salt” and “sodium” are used interchangeably. For example, when dietitians and doctors talk about salt they are probably referring to sodium.

+ MORE

Broths, stocks and bouillon cubes - By Sophia Baker French

July 14, 2011 by Healthy Families BC | Posted in: Sodium | Tags: did you know?, Salt, Sodium

Comments (1)

Broths, stocks and bouillon cubes are an easy and convenient way that I add flavour to many of my favourite recipes including mushroom risotto, Mexican tortilla soup and poached salmon. This can be an easy way to pack flavour into a dish, but unfortunately, many of the commercially produced broths, stocks and bouillon cubes have huge amounts of sodium. The average Canadian eats twice as much sodium as recommended and about 75% of that sodium comes from processed foods.

To find out just how much sodium these store-bought convenience products contain, I decided to take a trip to the grocery store. Strolling down the aisles, I found a variety of products with one common feature- lots of sodium.

+ MORE

Tastes salty to me: The hidden truth of sodium in foods

July 14, 2011 by Dean Simmons, Registered Dietitian | Posted in: Sodium | Tags: did you know?, Salt, Sodium

Comments (6)

Do you ever read the labels on the boxes of processed foods in your kitchen? The other day I had two boxes of in front of me, a ready-to eat breakfast cereal and a snack cracker, and I dared to compare. I was surprised to see that the salty tasting snack cracker actually contained less sodium than the breakfast cereal, which didn’t taste salty at all. Since table salt is made of sodium and chloride, shouldn’t a salty tasting food also be high in sodium, and vice versa?

+ MORE

Awash with sea salt

July 7, 2011 by Dean Simmons, Registered Dietitian | Posted in: Sodium | Tags: low sodium, Salt, Sodium

Comments (12)

The other day I was winding my way through the crowds at the Public Market in Granville Island in Vancouver when a pretty display of sea salts caught my eye. The salts were arranged neatly in little containers with clear lids showing off their delicate colours. Sea salt has become gourmet.

That encounter got me thinking about sea salt. In contrast to regular table salt, most of which comes from salt mines, sea salt has developed a halo of health. Sea salt is perceived as more natural, less refined and thus healthier than table salt. This is not the case. There are a number of health claims circulating on the Internet for unrefined sea salts in particular. These health claims have not been substantiated by scientific research.

+ MORE

Stroke

July 3, 2011 by Dean Simmons, Registered Dietitian | Posted in: Sodium | Tags: high blood pressure, Salt, Sodium, stroke

Comments (1)

My granddad was in his 80’s when he had a stroke. It affected his ability to carry on a conversation, and he started to forget who family members were.

Granddad’s post-stroke care was more than grandma could handle and he had to leave their home on the farm for a care-home in town. Strokes can hit a family hard. While stroke is more common in those over 65 years of age, anyone, even children, can have strokes. According to the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation, high blood pressure is the number one risk factor for stroke. It is often called the “silent killer” because we can’t feel when our blood pressure is high. About one in five (20%) of Canadians have high blood pressure.

+ MORE