To determine if your "healthy diet" meal is really healthy, you must sometimes look beyond the low-fat, low-carb rhetoric, according to Dr. Michael Mac Lean, Kings County health officer.

Mac Lean says people often overlook one key ingredient that can, in high amounts, turn into a silent poison: salt.

"So they cut the fat and they cut the calories in it. But when you look at the labels, the sodium contents are sky-high," Mac Lean said. "It's not really a healthy choice."

But frozen diet meals are just a small part of the big problem with the American food culture and diet based on prepared meals and restaurant foods, Mac Lean says.

Doctors recommend against eating more than 2,400 milligrams of sodium a day. But some restaurant meals, for example, contain whopping amounts of salt.

Order a Denny's double cheeseburger and you'll consume 3,880 milligrams of sodium. Or order Chili's Chicken Crisper Tacos. The dish has 5,790 milligrams of sodium -- far more than anyone should eat in two whole days.

"Salt is a very important part of our chemistry, but we're just going overboard. The American diet is just loaded with it," Mac Lean said.

Too much salt over a long time increases blood pressure, which can lead to strokes and heart attacks -- the top killers in the United States. Hypertension is also one of the most common causes of kidney failure, which could cost a fortune to treat.

Previous studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association have predicted that reducing salt intake by 50 percent a day will reduce the  number of deaths by at least 150,000 a year in the United States alone. Research also shows that people who cut back on salt in their diet by half reduce their risk of dying from heart disease by 9 percent and stroke by 14 percent.

Hypertension is a universal health issue.

Other countries such as the United Kingdom, Finland and Australia are working with the food industry to reduce the sodium content of processed and prepared foods. The U.S. government as well as health organizations do warn about the harmful effect of excess salt consumption.

"Everybody agrees -- all the scientific bodies and people who are responsible for advising us on how to live more healthy. The recommendations have been out there for decades," Mac Lean said. "The problem is, we as a society are doing nothing."

Mac Lean is not alone in his concerns.

In today's diet trend, which vilifies fat and sugar more than anything else, people maybe overlooking the hidden danger of excessive salt intake in their diet, said Dr. Ashok Verma, a cardiologist in town.

"The general awareness of the danger of excessive salt is just not there ... there's little public health effort put into the salt issue," Verma said. "It's just not discussed by the medical community as being a major health issue, even though it is [one]. It just hasn't been brought to the forefront yet."

Another problem, Verma said, may be that the effect is usually long term.

"It depends on the level of how in the near future you might get into trouble," he said. "If it doesn't affect you tomorrow, it just doesn't get people's attention."

The fight to push the food industry into taking action to reduce sodium in consumer products may be only beginning.

Earlier this summer, a New Jersey man sued Denny's in New Jersey with the help of nutrition advocates, alleging that the food chain's meals are "dangerously high in sodium."

So how much salt is enough and how much is too much?

A sodium intake of less than 2,400 milligrams -- which is about a teaspoon of table salt -- has been the federal dietary guideline. But that's not to say people should consume that much each day. The Institute of Medicine, one of the U.S. National Academies, says 1,500 milligrams a day is enough for most healthy adults.

Too little salt can be a problem, especially for those who are athletic. Still, it's a problem because the average American consumes 4,000 milligrams a day, and only about 20 percent of Americans meet the 2,400-milligrams-per-day national guideline, Mac Lean said.

The Sentinel looked at more than 40 products from supermarkets and menu items at restaurants in town and found that many of the low-calorie frozen meals are indeed high in sodium.

Michelina's Lean Gourmet Meatloaf is 180 calories, but it has 860 mg of sodium, 36 percent of the recommended daily allowance. The 300-calorie Lean Cuisine Ligatoni with meatballs had 830 mg of sodium per pack.

A frozen meal with the highest salt content per portion was Hungry Man Boneless Pork with 1,960 mg of sodium, 82 percent of the suggested daily intake. Maruchan Instant Cup Noodle, often eaten as a quick, light lunch contained 1,310 mg of sodium -- half the suggested daily allowance.

Connoisseurs of Japanese food may also take note: Miso soup may be among the culprits for high blood pressure. The soy bean-paste soup rich with antioxidants is a favorite at any sushi restaurant, but one cup of it contains 700-900 milligrams of sodium.

SHAKING THE SALT HABIT

Here's how you can reduce the sodium in your diet:

-- Choose fresh, frozen or canned food items without added salt.

-- Select unsalted nuts or seeds, dried beans, peas and lentils.

-- Limit the amount of salty snacks you eat, like chips and pretzels.

-- Avoid adding salt and canned vegetables to homemade dishes.

-- Select unsalted, fat-free broths, bouillons or soups.

-- Select fat-free or low-fat milk, low-sodium, low-fat cheeses, as well as low-fat yogurt.

-- Specify what you want and how you want it prepared when dining out. Ask for your dish to be prepared without salt.

-- Use spices and herbs to enhance the taste of your food.

Source: American Heart Association

The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

(Oct. 31, 2009)