Nutrition label improves my life ---- why does food still have "salt" without salt
Han Junhua National Food Risk Assessment Center
This year, when consumers bought packaged food in supermarkets, they did not know whether they had noticed that many food packages had a small table - "Nutrition Table", which marked the energy and many nutrients in the food you bought, such as protein, fat, carbohydrates, sodium, Some foods are also marked with more nutrients, such as various vitamins, trace elements, etc. Don't underestimate this little ingredient list. It plays an important role in guiding consumers to choose food and match their meals reasonably. This is also a "nutrition commitment" that our country requires enterprises to make to consumers according to international practices and practical experience.
Sodium is a component that must be marked in the nutrition label. The reason why it is mandatory is that in view of the high intake of salt (sodium) by Chinese residents, it is specifically required to allow residents to select and compare food more scientifically and reduce sodium intake purposefully. At the same time, it is also to cooperate with the national salt reduction action, promote the food industry to improve the process, and reduce the excessive sodium in food.
Careful friends may find that some foods do not use salt (or sodium chloride) in the "ingredient list" on the food label, but the sodium content in the nutrition list is not "0", and some are quite high. Where did the sodium come from?
In fact, both salt and sodium are inseparable from our daily life, as well as various animals and plants. Therefore, sodium naturally exists in various foods. The rice and flour, vegetables and fruits, meat, eggs and milk we eat every day all contain sodium in their own way, but the content varies from high to low. In addition, the additives used in food processing also include sodium, such as sodium benzoate as preservative, sodium starch phosphate as thickener, sodium fumarate as acidity regulator, sodium carbonate, sodium cyclamate as sweetener (i.e. sodium cyclamate), etc. If these sodium containing additives are used in processing, It also brings a small amount of sodium to food.
However, both sodium from food itself and sodium from additives play a very small role in our total sodium intake. What we should pay attention to in our daily diet is, first of all, to properly control the amount of salt used in cooking, and not to let the cooked food be too salty. Although salty food tastes delicious for a while, it is not good to consume too much sodium for a long time. Secondly, try to buy as few pickled foods and sauces as possible, such as bacon, pickles, hot sauce, yellow sauce, etc. The sodium content in these foods is often surprisingly high, and it is OK to eat properly, but do not form a diet pattern of "not eating fried vegetables, just eating with hot sauce". For a long time, not only is the sodium intake too high, but other nutrients are also easy to lack or imbalance.
In addition, our country has stipulated that if food enterprises claim "low sodium (low salt)", "no sodium (no salt)", etc. on the label, their sodium content has specific requirements, such as the requirement of low sodium is that the sodium content should be ≤ 120 Mg/100 g or 100 mL， Therefore, when purchasing packaged food, it is also a way to reduce sodium intake to choose the food with the claim of "low sodium" or "no sodium".
"Balanced" and "diversified" diet is the cornerstone of healthy diet. We believe that everyone can do a good job by integrating this concept into our life.
