Can Americans Lick their Salt Craving?

In 2008, Congress asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to recommend strategies for reducing sodium intake to levels recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans newly published this past week). In the spring of 2010, the IOM concluded that reducing sodium content in food requires new government standards for the accept­able level of sodium. Food manufacturers and restaurants need to meet these standards so that all sources in the food supply are involved. The goal is to slowly, over time, reduce the sodium content of the food supply in a way that goes unnoticed by most consumers as individuals’ taste sensors adjust to the lower levels of sodium.

As a young dietitian, I'd have bet that Americans were incapable of reducing their salt cravings. But ever so slowly, I'm coming around. I grew up in a family that regarded salt as a precious commodity, to be savored and used as liberally as possible. My dad actually salted his potato chips--until his first heart attack at age 47, when he was placed on a low-sodium diet. Mom rolled up her sleeves and began to study labels, take cooking classes, and buy 'healthy' cookbooks. She learned to replace the salt in her world-famous chicken soup with fresh herbs and spices and to bake with unsalted butter. After grousing and mumbling for the 6 months about how 'bland' everything tasted, we eventually stopped complaining. Over the next few months, everything we at home tasted delicious--and everything we ate outside tasted too salty!

Salt is an acquired taste; the more salt you use, the less you taste it, and the more you want it. The Institute of Medicine report is asking for a multipronged approach to help lower Americans' desire for sodium by reducing levels of sodium in processed foods, restaurant recipes, and federal feeding programs, and by setting a proscribed level of sodium that is acceptable for processed foods.

Some news features have pounced on this story as a "Big Brother" initiative to allow FDA to monitor the food industry's use of salt. Not true. Other news features have suggested that people who eat excess salt will face higher insurance rates. This is one time that I think the IOM got it right--it is much easier to change Americans' preference and taste for salt than it is to convince them to reduce salt intake on their own. A slow, gradual withdrawal will probably work wonders!

Here's my favorite recipe for chicken noodle soup, requiring only a teensy tiny amount of salt

3 lbs of cut-up chix parts
2 qts water
1 can low-fat chix broth
5 carrots, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
2 small white onions, chopped
1 butternut squash, frozen, chopped
1/2 bag broad egg noodles

rosemary
oregano
bay leaf
fresh parsley
1/2 tsp salt (1200 mg)

Put chicken and all remaining ingredients except noodles, salt and spices in stock pot with water and chicken broth. Cook on low until chicken is cooked all the way through. Remove chicken from bones and put the chicken back into the pot. Add noodles, herbs and salt; simmer for another 2 hours. Mash the squash until it's smooth.

The squash gives the soup a beautiful golden color and in combination with the herbs, provides a taste pallet that highlights the flavors of the chicken and the vegetables. You won't miss the salt at all!