Sodium

Q: I have heard that there is a lot of sodium or salt in tap water. Is that true? How much sodium is in a glass of water? I would also like to know how potassium works in the body and what foods are high in potassium.A: The sodium content of water depends somewhat on its source. For example, well water may contain more sodium than the surface water supplying Baltimore City and Baltimore County, where the amount of sodium in tap water is quite low -- approximately 2 milligrams per cup of water.

Each week a nutritionist from the University of Maryland Medical Center provides a guest post to The Baltimore Sun's health blog Picture of Health (baltimoresun.com/pictureofhealth), which is reprinted here. This week, Emily Rice, dietetic intern, weighs in on picnic foods. The weather is warming up, and for many of us this means heading outdoors to enjoy all the spring and summer have to offer. Sunshine, fresh fruits and vegetables, and friends make for the perfect picnic; however, many of us struggle with picnic temptations.

Each week a nutritionist from the University of Maryland Medical Center provides a guest post to The Baltimore Sun's health blog Picture of Health (baltimoresun.com/pictureofhealth). This week, Ellen Loreck weighs in on sodium. According to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, people should consume between 1,500 and 2,300 mgs of sodium per day. That's equal to about 2/3 to 1 teaspoon of salt, which isn't much. Most of the sodium comes from processed foods, so eating out becomes a challenge.

Each week a nutritionist from the University of Maryland Medical Center provides a guest post to The Baltimore Sun's health blog Picture of Health (baltimoresun.com/pictureofhealth). This week, Ellen Loreck weighs in on sodium. According to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, people should consume between 1,500 and 2,300 mgs of sodium per day. That's equal to about 2/3 to 1 teaspoon of salt, which isn't much. Most of the sodium comes from processed foods, so eating out becomes a challenge.

If you rely heavily on processed, convenience or fast foods, and/or are a heavy salter, you may be part of a group of people eating 9 1/2 grams of sodium daily.A recent Johns Hopkins study notes that people with "high normal" blood pressure can reduce their risk of stroke and heart disease significantly by slightly lowering sodium intake to 7 grams per day (still high by American Heart Association standards, which recommends only 3 grams per day).If you're wondering how to get your sodium consumption down by 2 1/2 grams per day, here's the scoop.

Reduced sodium diets are yet another weapon in the war against osteoporosis.Researchers have often shown that eating more sodium increases calcium lost in urine. But does that mean calcium is being lost from bones? Yes, according to researchers at the University of Western Australia.Tufts University Diet and Nutrition Letter reports that the two-year study of 100 postmenopausal women found that those who ate the most sodium lost the most bone from their hips and ankles. So they were at greater risk for fractures.

Item: Green Giant Complete Skillet Meals What you get: 4 servings Cost: About $7 Nutritional content: Chicken Alfredo - 290 calories, 7 grams fat, 3.5 grams saturated fat, 920 milligrams sodium; Chicken LoMein -- 200 calories, 2.5 grams fat, no saturated fat, 760 milligrams sodium Preparation time: 9 to 12 minutes on stove top, 12 to 16 minutes in microwave Review: Green Giant is aiming its new line of frozen meals at youngsters, and the company seems...

I have used Adolph's sodium-free tenderizer on all my meat, poultry and fish for years. I'm told that the company is no longer making it, and the alternatives all seem to have sodium. Will the company be making it again or can you suggest a good substitute? According to the customer-service department at Lawry's, the division of Unilever that markets Adolph's, the sodium-free tenderizer was indeed discontinued in January. The representative said there was a possibility the product would be reintroduced if customer demand was high enough, so all you fans out there: Call 800-9-LAWRYS and make yourself known.

Q: My doctor has told me to reduce my use of salt as part of the treatment of my high blood pressure. I wonder whether lowering salt will do any good. Also, my wife and I have been reading the labels on various foods, but we can't figure out what they mean.A: The amount of daily salt (sodium chloride) intake by the average American, 9 to 12 grams per day (or 3.5 to 5 grams of sodium), far exceeds bodily needs. Reducing salt use to less than 6 grams a day can lower blood pressure significantly in people with established hypertension.

Just when I thought cereal with skim milk was the only healthful choice for weekday breakfasts, a breakthrough happened.Now there are breakfast sandwiches to add variety as well as speed to daily options.CONAGRA is now producing "Healthy Choice" English muffin breakfast sandwiches in several flavors that fit comfortably in a low-fat, low-sodium eating pattern.The one I tasted looked like an Egg McMuffin but was made of cholesterol-free egg product, turkey ham and pasteurized process cheese food.

— First Lady Michelle Obama applauded the parent company of Olive Garden and Red Lobster Thursday for pledging to cut calories and sodium at its restaurants over the next 10 years. Speaking at the Olive Garden, a restaurant known for its all-you-can eat pastas and breadsticks, Obama called the move by Darden Restaurants, the world's largest full-service restaurant company, an industry "breakthrough" and a key step in her campaign against childhood obesity. "What's good for kids and families can also be good for business," she said.

When you're buying Uncle Ben's 90-second rice packs, it pays to read the fine print. The Whole Grain Brown version has just a trace of sodium, but if you go for the medley of brown and wild rice, which says in small type on the package that it's "perfectly seasoned with herbs and spices," you'll end up with 730 milligrams sodium per cup. Kate Shatzkin Uncle Ben's Ready Rice Whole Grain Brown Per cup: 240 calories 5 grams protein 3 grams fat ...

The soup options at Panera Bread can be tricky - some are low in fat but can pack more than half a day's worth of sodium or more in the 12-ounce size. The best choice overall the day we visited seemed to be the creamy tomato (if we left off the included croutons). Compared with the broccoli cheddar, the tomato version saved us 80 calories, 3 grams saturated fat and 100 milligrams sodium. Nutritional data from panerabread.com Kate Shatzkin Panera Bread Broccoli Cheddar Soup Per serving (12 ounces)

Tempted to buy the America's Choice brand of honey nut oat cereal at Super Fresh, instead of the Honey Nut Cheerios? You'll end up with an extra 80 milligrams of sodium per serving if you do. The Honey Nut Cheerios also has 115 milligrams of beneficial potassium per serving; the America's Choice brand has none. Kate Shatzkin America's Choice Honey Nut Toasted Oats Per serving ( 3/4 cup): 120 calories 2 grams protein 2 grams fat 0 grams saturated fat 24 grams carbohydrate 2 grams fiber 0 milligrams cholesterol 270 milligrams sodium Honey Nut Cheerios Per serving ( 3/4 cup)

Perusing the soup shelves at Super Fresh, we compared nutrition facts on packages of vegetable stock and broth. By choosing Kitchen Basics vegetable stock instead of Imagine organic vegetable broth, we saved 220 milligrams of sodium for every cup. Kate Shatzkin Kitchen Basics Vegetable Stock Per cup: 20 calories 0 grams protein 0 grams fat 0 grams saturated fat 5 grams carbohydrate 0 grams fiber 0 milligrams cholesterol 330 milligrams sodium...

A recent news report of an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association noted that people with high-normal blood pressure can achieve significant reductions in blood pressure by losing a little bit of weight (about 8 1/2 pounds), and decreasing sodium intake (from 9 1/2 to 7 grams daily).This is really exciting news, because these changes would require very small sacrifices to gain impressive health benefits.The sodium changes are particularly interesting.(Before we go on, there are 1,000 milligrams in a gram.

If a federal judge allows Maryland to kill 525 swans this fall, at least some of them will die by lethal injection. The state Department of Natural Resources plans to send a state veterinarian into the marshes and fields of the Eastern Shore this fall to give lethal injections to as many mute swans as possible. DNR has a supply of sodium pentothal -- the same drug veterinarians use to put down ailing domestic pets -- and will try to use it whenever possible in the eradication effort, said Jonathan McKnight, associate director of habitat conservation for DNR's Wildlife and Heritage Service.