Reducing Sodium in Foods: The Effect on Flavor

Abstract

Sodium is an essential micronutrient and, via salt taste, appetitive. High consumption of sodium is, however, related to negative health effects such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and stroke. In industrialized countries, about 75% of sodium in the diet comes from manufactured foods and foods eaten away from home. Reducing sodium in processed foods will be, however, challenging due to sodium’s specific functionality in terms of flavor and associated palatability of foods (i.e., increase of saltiness, reduction of bitterness, enhancement of sweetness and other congruent flavors). The current review discusses the sensory role of sodium in food, determinants of salt taste perception and a variety of strategies, such as sodium replacers (i.e., potassium salts) and gradual reduction of sodium, to decrease sodium in processed foods while maintaining palatability.

Blood pressure and sodium intake from snacks in adolescents

“…It is difficult to precisely quantify the amount of sodium assumed and the 24-h urinary sodium excretion was not measured. However, in developed countries, the amount of salt discretionarily added to food is small and the majority of salt intake comes from salt added to food by the food industry 19 . In consideration of the rough estimation of sodium intake, the frequency of consumption of salty snack foods has been evaluated; the comparability of the results by the two methods is reassuring.…”

“…Most of the dietary sodium derives from manufactured foods and foods eaten away from home 19 . In fact, some of the major sources of sodium in worldwide children's diets are pizza, chips, sandwiches that are often eaten as snacks between meals 20,21,22 .…”

Storage changes in low sodium-processed Mozzarella cheese prepared using potassium-based emulsifying salts

“…However, daily sodium intake in most parts of the world is well in excess of this recommendation. Processed cheese contains 1,320 mg Na per 100 g cheese (Liem et al 2011) and thus significantly contributes to the percentage of total daily sodium intake in part of a daily diet.…”

Wpływ sposobu i czasu solenia oraz dojrzewania sera edamskiego na jego wybrane parametry jakościowe

“…choroby cywilizacyjne, spowodowane między innymi nadmiernym spożyciem soli kuchennej, podjęto liczne próby mające na celu ograniczenie jej zawartości w produktach żywnościowych [Doyle, Glass 2010;Durack, Alonso-Gomez, Wilkinson 2008, Cruz i in. 2011Liem, Miremadi, Keast 2011]. Do produktów mleczarskich zawierających znaczne ilości chlorku sodu należą sery dojrzewające [Guinee 2004].…”