Salt Like Behavior

We have no scientific evidence to support our suggestions which we'll share with you later. Ever since we were young our elders have encouraged use to first taste our food before adding salt. We knew they were trying to reduce our salt and sugar intake even as children so we automatically went into repair mode because our food was communally prepared. What our high blood pressure having big cousins ate wasn't going to be satisfying to us. Out came the salt/sugar adding arm before taking the first bite.

Exactly what the effect are and what they could provide us was not known or rather scientifically verified until now. Not only what we could do but how much we should do and what were its effect on us physically and financially. This information is too hard to ignore. We'll put our suggestions in "couch potato" form and you can take it as you will. From the University of California - San Francisco we learned:

"Even a small dietary reduction in salt could mean fewer heart attacks, strokes and deaths - Reducing salt in the American diet by as little as one-half teaspoon (or three grams) per day could prevent nearly 100,000 heart attacks and 92,000 deaths each year, according to a new study. Such benefits are on par with the benefits from reductions in smoking and could save the United States about $24 billion in healthcare costs, the researchers add." (USCF)

The Stanford University Medical Center and Columbia University Medical Center helped developed the hows, whats and the whys:

"...were derived from the Coronary Heart Disease Policy Model, found that reducing dietary salt by three grams per day (about 1200 mg of sodium or about ½ teaspoon) would result in 11 percent fewer cases of new heart disease, 13 percent fewer heart attacks, 8 percent fewer strokes, and 4 percent fewer deaths. For African Americans, who researchers believe are more likely to have high blood pressure and may be more sensitive to salt, this degree of salt reduction could reduce new cases of heart disease by 16 percent and heart attacks by 19 percent.

“Reducing dietary salt is one of those rare interventions that has a huge health benefit and actually saves large amounts of money. At a time when so much public debate has focused on the costs of health care for the sick, here is a simple remedy, already proven to be feasible in other countries,” said Lee Goldman, MD, MPH, senior author, executive vice president for health and biomedical sciences and dean of the faculties of health sciences and medicine at Columbia University." (UCSF)

Our family tried adding rice to the salt shaker which just made us shake harder but what they didn't try was to add other seasoning to our shaker. When they hid the shaker we'd go to the cabinet and shake right from box. When we "box shake" we always added to much salt. What didn't work for us may work for you, if not try this. Here is a suggestion made by the American Heart Association:

There is a rich world of creative and flavorful alternatives to salt. Get started with this guide to spices, herbs and flavorings and the food items with which they are a particularly good flavor match. Then get creative and experiment! - American Heart Association (AHA)

We won't know how successful this bait and switch will be until we put it into action but if we start now we might be able to create an environment where alternative flavors might interests us and our families. Pearlie Mae felt that she didn't have to change because she was at an age where it didn't really matter. It mattered to us whether she lived or died. Since we were responsible for the foods Pearlie Mae ate and were prepared for her we didn't and should have to make major changes.

Public health interventions are often controversial. There is a common misperception that only certain people should reduce their salt intake and that for the vast majority of the population salt reduction is unnecessary. The opposite is true. Elevated blood pressure is a huge public health problem. Approximately one third of adults have hypertension, and another third have prehypertension. For adults who reach the age of 50 years, the lifetime risk that hypertension will develop is 90%. Furthermore, the benefits of salt reduction probably extend to children and young adults. Salt reduction in children has been shown to lower blood pressure, and blood pressure is directly associated with the earliest stages of atherosclerotic disease, even at young ages. (New England Journal of Medicine)

Changes only have to ten (10) to twenty (20) percent in lifestyle. There is hope through chemistry. Science is offering us hope for some additional alternatives.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator Charles S. Zuker and his colleagues have pinpointed the receptor molecules in the tongue that tell the brain whether a substance is sweet, bitter, sour, or savory (the taste also known as umami)." (HHMI)

We think flavorful alternatives are the solution - partially. Rice to the salt wasn't the solution for us but white pepper or some other white seasoning of other varying flavors might be the solution. For us we had to see the crystals on top of our food before we'd stop shaking. Whether or not that'll work for you we don't know. It's not scientific, we know and we disclaim our suggestions with that proviso. All you have to have is a quarter teaspoon worth of success.