Beware of hidden salt! Say no to "heavy taste"!

Not long ago, the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)" raised the "salt restriction" standard, recommending that Chinese residents over the age of 11 consume no more than 5 grams of salt per day. This is 1 gram less than the 6 grams limit in the old version of the guidelines. How and how much salt should we eat?

How much salt does the human body need?

According to nutrition experts, to maintain the most basic needs of the human body, it is enough for each person to consume 3.8 grams of salt per day.

Sodium salt can increase the water content in the blood, leading to an increase in the total blood volume. It can also activate hormones such as angiotensin, which can increase blood pressure. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the prevalence of hypertension in the overall population. Limiting the amount of salt is the most urgent measure. If the salt intake is reduced by 2.5 grams, the risk of hypertension can be reduced by 3%.

Surveys show that the daily salt intake in northern my country is 16 to 18 grams per person, in Shanghai it is 10 to 12 grams per person, and in Guangdong it is even lower. Correspondingly, the incidence of hypertension in my country also shows a trend of "high in the north and low in the south", depending on the amount of salt intake.

Be careful of the "invisible salt" in life

Some people think that as long as they don't eat salty food, they don't consume too much salt. But this is not the case. In daily diet, few people will look at the sodium content of products. Not tasting salty does not mean that the salt content of the food is low.

Saltiness is often hidden in other flavors. The salt added to food is also called "invisible salt", which makes people hard to guard against.

It is unreliable to judge the salt content based on taste alone. Some desserts, such as cheese, ice cream, bread, etc., although they taste sweet and seem to have nothing to do with saltiness, salt is added to these desserts during the production process, and the sweetness can easily cover up the saltiness.

If you pay a little attention to the ingredient list on the outer packaging of sweet foods (such as biscuits, cakes, jelly, chocolate, milk drinks, coffee, potato chips, etc.), you will find that many of them contain "invisible salt" and the content is not low.

Experts remind that high-salt foods in daily life are mainly concentrated in the following 10 categories:

10 types of high-salt foods:

Sauce

Salted fish, shrimp and other seafood

Pickles and pickles

Processed soy products

Salted Egg

Potato chips and biscuits

Noodles

Canned products

Salted Nuts

seasoning

For example: 100 grams of ham contains about 2.5 grams of salt. Consuming 250 grams of ham every day can reach the recommended daily salt intake.

Therefore, controlling salt intake requires not only a light diet, but also learning to read the nutrition labels of packaged foods, paying special attention to the sodium content.

Source: Science Popularization China WeChat Official Account

The cover image of this article is from the copyright gallery, and the image content is not authorized for reproduction

<<: [Fat Bear Science] I’ve drunk milk, but this is the first time I’ve heard of “milk blood”!

>>: [Fat Bear Science] Gallstones are more common in the "F4" group, and if left untreated for a long time, there is a risk of cancer