Eating less salt is an increasingly discussed topic. This topic concerns the element sodium, which is the main component in traditional salt (sodium chloride).
Too much salt
Almost every Dutch person receives structurally too much salt¹. An excess of sodium is harmful to the body and is therefore a reason for change. For this reason, researchers and companies are working on replacement of sodium with other salts.
Less sodium
It is widely known that less sodium reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases. A recent study published in The Journal of Food Science investigated and measured how food can contain less sodium and still remain tasty. This addresses one of the issues of low-sodium food, as a lower sodium content changes the taste of food. Salt is also needed for other properties, such as texture and shelf life. Using a low-sodium salt is therefore a desirable solution.
New formulations
The solution is not easy, because the research also shows that there is no standard solution. All aspects must be considered for each product in order to produce the right mix of other salts. Nevertheless, a number of new formulations can already be found on the shelves. More and more often there will be another salt element on the label.
¹ Source: nierstichting.