Dietary salt – where is it usually from?

Salt (sodium) intake is one of the most important causes of hypertension. Cardiologists often advise reducing salt as a way of dealing with hypertension. But where does salt in our diet usually come from?

An American study from the University of Minnesota suggests that at least for Americans, 70% of dietary sodium comes from foods prepared outside the home.  Sodium found naturally in foods consumed accounts for 14%, and salt added in the course of preparing food at home amounts to 5.6% of intake.  Saltshakers at the home table account for 4.9% of ingested sodium. The overall sodium consumption was more than 50% over the recommended amount.

These researchers gathered data from people from Birmingham, Alabama; Palo Alto, California; and Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota; aged 18 to 74 across diverse racial groups. While the sample may not necessarily be representative of our New Zealand population, the findings do remind us that one of the best ways of reducing salt intake may be to cook hearty meals at home, rather than spending money dining out.

Reference:

Harnack LJ, Cogswell ME, Shikany JM, et al. sources of sodium in US adults from 3 geographic regions. Circ 2017; 135:1775-1783

Plant-based diet = healthy?

Many believed that simply avoiding meat would constitute a healthy diet.   A recent study from the Harvard School of Public health suggests otherwise.  Plant-based diet must be of “high quality”, in order to reduce coronary heart disease risk.

The study followed more than 200,000 adults for two decades. 

-       A plant-based diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes was associated with a substantially lower coronary heart disease risk. 

-       A plant-based diet rich in refined grains, fruit juice, potatoes, sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with a substantially higher coronary heart disease risk.

Sticking to a healthy diet can sometimes be quite difficult. However, this study further adds to our knowledge of what is healthier and what is less healthy.

For those who consume a large amount of “unhealthful” plant-based foods, this study is a reminder that vegetarian foods may not always be healthy.

For those who want to improve their diets but cannot adopt a vegetarian diet, the good news is that one could probably concentrate on replacing a couple of servings of unhealthy animal foods by a couple of servings of healthy plant-based foods, and still benefit. Nothing too extreme.

Reference:

Satija A, et al. Healthful and unhealthful plant-based diets and the risk of coronary artery disease in US adults. J Am Coll Cardiol 2017; 70:411-422.

Yum char – balanced diet?

Maintaining heart health requires a balanced diet.

In a previous blog post, we explained the “food plate”, which is an easy-to-understand illustration on how best to achieve the balanced diet.  The simple rule of thumb is to consume 50% vegetables; with the rest made up of some grains, starchy vegetables such as potato, some proteins, some milk, yoghurt and cheese, and the rest healthy oil, nuts and seeds.

Yum char is hugely popular in Chinese. From the heart point of view,

-       multiple small plates make it quite hard to work out the right food group proportions

-       many dim sums contain high overall fat content, especially saturated fat

-       many dim sums contain very high salt content.

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department of Hong Kong studied the nutrient values of Chinese dim sum in 2007. 

Rather than listing the nutrient values of all popular items here, we have picked a few interesting (and sometimes surprising) lists below.

High total fat Chinese dim sum

-       Steamed beancurd sheet roll (鮮竹卷), 1 piece, 12g fat, 72% energy from fat

-       Pan-fried beancurd sheet roll (煎腐皮卷), 1 piece, 11g fat, 76% energy from fat

-       Steamed minced beef ball (山竹牛肉), 1 piece, 7g fat, 67% energy from fat

Commentary: Pan-fried and deep-fried Chinese dim sum was high in total fat. However, among 37 savoury Chinese dim sum prepared by steaming, the percentage energy from total fat of 12 Chinese dim sum was more than 50%.

High saturated fat Chinese dim sum

-       Coconut milk yellow bean pudding (椰汁馬豆糕), 1 piece, 3g saturated fat, 24% energy from saturated fat

-       Mango sago dessert with pomelo (楊枝甘露), 1 bowl, 5g saturated fat, 20% energy from saturated fat

-       Baked barbecued pork puff (叉燒酥), 1 piece, 4g saturated fat, 20% energy from saturated fat

Commentary: Chinese dim sums with coconut milk, or lard contain very high saturated fat

High salt content Chinese dim sum

-       Steamed chicken with fish maw (棉花雞), 640mg sodium/100g

-       Steamed curry squid (咖哩蒸魷魚), 640mg sodium/100g

-       Steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce (豉汁蒸鳳爪), 620mg sodium/100g

Commentary: High-sodium condiments, such as table salt, black bean sauce, and mono-sodium glutamate, contributed to the high sodium contents.

The most interesting part of the study was its recommended healthier menus. See page 18 of the document. Below is the suggested menu for 4 people. The main highlight of these menus is having half a plate of boiled vegetables for each diner, to achieve the right balance.

How close is this to what we ate last week at yum char?

Steamed glutinous rice roll (糯米卷), 2 pieces

Steamed barbecued pork bun (叉燒包), 3 pieces

Steamed rice-roll with shrimps (鮮蝦腸粉), 3 rolls

Boiled water spinach (白灼通菜), 1 plate

Boiled Chinese flowering cabbage (白灼菜心), 1 plate

Steamed stuffed dumpling with shrimp/ Siu mai (燒賣), 4 pieces

Sesame dessert/sweet soup (芝麻糊), 2 bowls