From the stuffing mix to the green bean casserole to even pumpkin pie, a lot of people can reach their daily sodium allotment or more in that one big meal unless the cook employs some tricks.
“For Thanksgiving or any meal, the more you can cook from scratch and have some control over the sodium that’s going in, the better,’’ says the American Dietetic Association’s Bethany Thayer, a registered dietitian at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
The Food and Drug Administration this month opened deliberations on how to cut enough salt in processed foods for average shoppers to have a good shot at meeting new dietary guidelines. The idea: If sodium levels gradually drop in the overall food supply, it will ease the nation’s epidemic of high blood pressure — and our salt-riddled taste buds will have time to adjust to the new flavor.
“Reducing sodium is important for nearly everyone,’’ Dr. Robin Ikeda of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the FDA hearing.
The question is how to make that happen. The prestigious Institute of Medicine and several public health advocates are urging the FDA to order gradual rollbacks, setting different sodium levels for different kinds of foods, a step the government has been reluctant to take.
Food makers want a voluntary approach and say they’re reworking their recipes, some as part of a campaign launched by New York City to cut salt consumption by at least 20 percent over five years.
It will take different strategies to remove salt from different foods — and some may need to be a sneak operation, Kraft Foods Vice President Richard Black told the FDA meeting. Ritz crackers labeled low-sodium were a bust until the box was changed to say “Hint of Salt’’ and those exact same crackers started selling, he said.
In other foods, salt acts as a preservative with a variety of functions. Kraft sells cheese with somewhat less sodium in Britain than in the U.S. Americans melt a lot of cheese and lower-sodium cheese doesn’t melt as well, Black said.
