Sodium

On Monday, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health released study results showing that red meat consumption was associated with a higher risk of early death. The more red meat -- beef, pork or lamb, for the purposes of the research -- study participants reported they ate, the more likely they were to die during the period of time that data collection took place (more than 20 years). So what is it in red meat that might make it unhealthy?   No one is sure, exactly, but the authors of the Harvard study mention a few possible culprits in their paper in the Archives of Internal Medicine .   First, eating red meat has been linked to the incidence of heart disease.  The saturated fat and cholesterol in beef, pork and lamb are believed to play a role in the risk of coronary heart disease .  The type of iron found in red meat, known as heme iron, has also been linked to heart attacks and fatal heart disease.  Sodium in processed meats may increase blood pressure, which is a risk factor for heart disease. Other chemicals that are used in processed meats may play a role in heart disease as well, by damaging blood vessels.

Burger King is getting healthier -- or so the fast-food chain would have you believe. BK has unveiled a new menu that includes 10 dishes it says will appeal to diet- and fitness-conscious consumers. These taste treats include Caesar salads, smoothies and wraps. "We spent the last year analyzing every aspect of our business to better understand what our guests expect from the Burger King dining experience," says Steve Wiborg, the company's North American president. "We found that consumers wanted a broader range of menu options to complement our signature fire-grilled burgers.

It was evidently good enough for Gilligan and Robinson Crusoe. But is coconut water a healthy choice for people who aren't stranded on a deserted island? A longstanding treat in tropical regions across the globe, coconut water hit U.S. supermarkets a few years back and is now being marketed with a vengeance. Sometimes billed as nature's sports drink, the slightly sour beverage has also acquired a reputation for being able to improve circulation, slow aging, fight viruses, boost immunity, and reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke.

A recent study found that kids may develop a taste for salt early on, a recent study finds, if they're fed starchy foods that contain sodium.   What foods are we talking about? Things like soft breads, cereals and crackers, items that many parents probably think nothing about handing to their kids. In the study published recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , infants tried out different concentrations of salt solutions and water to see which they preferred.

Reality TV star Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl Margarita was recently yanked from the shelves of Whole Foods markets for purportedly having a non-natural preservative thought to be sodium benzoate. Though the bottle reads "all natural," the grocery chain wasn't OK with it. TMZ reports that a class action lawsuit has also been filed against the parent company alleging misleading claims about the product being natural. What is sodium benzoate, and should you be worried about ingesting it?

When you go to the market and buy a raw apple, you expect -- and get -- an apple. Not a fruitlike product injected with liquid that makes it weigh more but that softens the natural crispness and dilutes the flavor to the point where it has to be infused with caramel-apple concentrate to restore some tastiness. Fortunately, Fujis are still Fujis. If only the same could be said of chicken. In the past few years, it has become common for chicken producers to inject fresh chicken with saltwater as a way to keep it juicy and flavorful in the hands of indifferent cooks, a process called "enhancing" or "plumping."

Ate too many nachos? Consider a banana chaser -- your heart might thank you for it. A new study suggests that consuming twice as much potassium as sodium can halve your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. The study is the first to show that the ratio of these nutrients in your diet matters more than exactly how much you get of either one. The best strategy for good health, experts are quick to stress, is to eat less sodium and more potassium.

So how much good will it do if you get more exercise, consume less salt, ramp up on potassium, eat the DASH way, give up smoking, take up meditation? Does it all add up to some impressive total that will knock your doctor's socks off the next check-up time? It depends a lot on where you start out. If you're a confirmed couch potato, exercising even a little might help to bring your blood pressure down. But if you're already a marathon runner, you've probably maxed out on the good that exercise can do you. If you smoke two packs a day, quitting could make a big difference.

For decades now, we've heard that too much sodium can cause hypertension and raise the risk of cardiovascular disease. People have paid far less attention to potassium, a mineral that has opposite effects on health: Get enough of it, and it can actually lower your blood pressure and protect your heart. Now a study of more than 12,000 adults has underscored something that doctors and nutritionists have been saying for years: If you watch your sodium but ignore potassium, you're missing an important part of the picture.

For those who crave the sweet taste of sugar, but not the 15 calories that come with each teaspoon,  there are plenty of alternatives -- sucralose (better known as Splenda), aspartame (Equal) and saccharine (Sweet'N Low), just to name a few. But where are the alternatives to salt? It's a good question. Public health experts keep telling us that we need to cut back on our sodium consumption in order to bring down the nation's blood pressure and reduce our risk for heart attacks and strokes.

Feeding young babies solid foods such as crackers, cereals and bread, which tend to be high in salt, may set them up for a lifelong preference for salt, researchers reported Tuesday. The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests that efforts to reduce salt intake among Americans should begin early in life. It is even possible, the authors said, that infancy contains a "sensitivity window" in which exposure to certain foods and tastes programs the brain to desire them in the future.

Those that can't do … set policy? We've been advised by the government to slash our salt intake. But do those on the policy-setting front lines practice what they preach? Apparently not, according to an informal survey published in the journal BMJ's special Christmas issue. Like smoking nurses or overweight doctors, they may be falling down on the job when it comes to their own daily habits -- aided and abetted by the fare served in their own cafeterias. A disclaimer here: The study was done in the Netherlands.

Reality TV star Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl Margarita was recently yanked from the shelves of Whole Foods markets for purportedly having a non-natural preservative thought to be sodium benzoate. Though the bottle reads "all natural," the grocery chain wasn't OK with it. TMZ reports that a class action lawsuit has also been filed against the parent company alleging misleading claims about the product being natural. What is sodium benzoate, and should you be worried about ingesting it?

Restaurant diners are accountable for what they put in their mouths. Fried chicken too fattening? Order a salad and ask for the dressing on the side. Giant potato with mushroom gravy fit to see you through a marathon? Skip it and get the steamed artichoke with vinaigrette. But what if chefs helped us out - and lowered the fat and calories in their favorite dishes by as much as 25% while preserving the deliciousness? Photos: Dining out the smart way That's the experiment we did with chefs at three high-end restaurants in L.A. Each made a dish on their menu two ways: the usual way and then with calories, fat and sodium content trimmed to an extent they thought customers wouldn't notice.

For decades now, we've heard that too much sodium can cause hypertension and raise the risk of cardiovascular disease. People have paid far less attention to potassium, a mineral that has opposite effects on health: Get enough of it, and it can actually lower your blood pressure and protect your heart. Now a study of more than 12,000 adults has underscored something that doctors and nutritionists have been saying for years: If you watch your sodium but ignore potassium, you're missing an important part of the picture.

In an effort to forestall proposed government regulation of food and beverage products that can be advertised to children, some of the biggest companies in the industry have put forth their own, self-imposed measures. The industry's plan targets a number of food types, including juices, dairy products, grains, soups and meals. It holds companies to limits on the amount of calories, sugar, sodium and saturated fat allowed in foods promoted to children. The self-imposed regulations, announced Thursday, would give companies time to make adjustments.

One evening last June at Tucson's Steward Observatory, astronomer Michael Brown set up his equipment to test out an idea about the rings of Saturn. With six hours to kill before Saturn would become visible, Brown pointed the telescope toward Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, where a thin oxygen atmosphere had been discovered a few months earlier. "It was completely whim," said Brown, now a researcher in Caltech's geological and planetary sciences department.

Campbell Soup Co. said it was reducing the sodium in 48 soups to meet government criteria for healthy foods. The 36 ready-to-serve soups and 12 condensed soups for children will have 480 milligrams of sodium per serving. That reduces the sodium in the children's soups by one-fifth, the Camden, N.J.-based company said. Campbell also said it would increase its soup prices by 5% because of the rising cost of wheat. The company will also raise the price of its Prego spaghetti sauces and V8 juices.

Exactly how much salt is in Campbell Soup Co.'s "less-sodium" soups? Almost as much as in some of its regular soups, said four New Jersey women who won a federal court order rejecting a bid by the Camden, N.J., food maker to throw their lawsuit out. The women accused Campbell of misleading consumers by selling lower-sodium soups at premium prices when they had almost as much salt as regular soups. Among other things, the suit claimed that Campbell's 25% Less Sodium Tomato Soup had the same sodium level — 480 milligrams — as its regular tomato soup.

Enjoying that cottage cheese? We have a bit of bad news for you -- a cup of the stuff could contain roughly 1,000 milligrams of sodium, a little less than half of what you should consume in an entire day. Using three packets of ketchup on those fries? There's another 534 milligrams. Making people aware of how much sodium may be in certain foods is the idea behind a series of "Salt Shocker" videos produced by the L.A. County Department of Public Health's RENEW LA County initiative as part of their sodium awareness program.