If we could identify foods that are the main sources of sodium on a day-to-day basis, we could start taking steps to cut the salt. A new study identifies the top 10 categories – foods that contribute the most sodium to the average American’s diet on a daily basis. Here they are, ranked from highest to lowest contributor of sodium:

1. Breads and rolls
2. Cold cuts/cured meats
3. Pizza
4. Poultry
5. Soups
6. Sandwiches
7. Cheese
8. Pasta Dishes
9. Meat Mixed Dishes (like meat loaf)
10. Savory snacks (chips, popcorn, pretzels)

While many categories on the list are not vegan, there are still a couple of messages here for vegans. First of all, some foods that may be eaten by vegans, including bread and rolls, soups, and salted snacks can supply more salt than we need. It’s a good idea to check labels for sodium and choose lower sodium foods. Secondly, notice what’s not on the list. That would be fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, among others. Cutting down on sodium on an individual basis means eating fewer processed foods. That’s where people who are already used to eating whole plant foods have the advantage. For a week’s worth of low sodium menus see http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2005issue4/vj2005issue4lowsodium.htm.

The study's authors say, “Reducing the sodium content of the 10 leading sources by one fourth would reduce total dietary sodium by more than 10%. This could prevent an estimated 28,000 deaths and $7 billion in health-care expenditures annually.” We have to wonder what the effect would be of eliminating categories 2, 3, 7, and 9 completely.

This study was published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

A just-published study examined dietary factors that could increase a woman’s risk of developing gestational diabetes. Women who ate the highest amount of animal fat before they were pregnant had about a 90% greater risk of developing gestational diabetes compared with women eating the lowest amount of animal fat. There was no association between vegetable fat and gestational diabetes. Cholesterol was also associated with an increased risk. The study authors suggest that even as simple a change as replacing 5% of animal fat with vegetable fat could reduce risk of diabetes. While women cannot change risk factors like ethnicity or family history of diabetes, moving away from (or eliminating) animal fat could markedly change their risk of gestational diabetes. "Our findings indicate that women who reduce the proportion of animal fat and cholesterol in their diets before pregnancy may lower their risk for gestational diabetes during pregnancy," said senior author Cuilin Zhang, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., of the Epidemiology Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

To read more about this study see: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jan2012/nichd-25.htm

For more information on vegan diets in pregnancy see our website: http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/veganpregnancy.php, and the newly-available book, The Everything Vegan Pregnancy Book.

High blood pressure affects more than a third of Americans and increases the risk for stroke, heart disease, and kidney failure. Researchers at Loma Linda University recently looked at 2000 white Seventh-day Adventists. Subjects were classified as vegan (if they ate meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy less than once a month), lacto-ovo vegetarian (ate meat, poultry, and fish less than once a month), partial vegetarian (ate meat and poultry less than once a month but ate fish monthly or ate meat, poultry, or fish at least once once a month but not weekly), and nonvegetarians. “Meat” includes both red meat and poultry. Although these are not the definitions that are used by vegan and vegetarian organizations, this was how the researchers classified their subjects since the categories reflect the way the subjects ate most of the time. About 10% of those studied were categorized as vegan and more than one-third as lacto-ovo vegetarian.

The group identified as vegans had a lower average blood pressure than did nonvegetarians. In addition, vegans were less likely to take medicine for high blood pressure. Those categorized as vegans had a 60% lower risk of hypertension (elevated blood pressure) compared to nonvegetarians, while those categorized as lacto-ovo vegetarians had about a 40% lower risk and partial vegetarians had about a 10% lower risk. The results of this study may be partly due to the lower BMI of vegans and vegetarians since being overweight increases the risk of having high blood pressure. Higher intakes of potassium and fiber by vegans and vegetarians could be another explanation for the results. This study was published in the January 2012 issue of Public Health Nutrition.

In 2010, high blood pressure cost the United States $76.6 billion in health care services, medications, and missed days of work. We can only wonder what the impact of a national move towards a vegan diet on these costs would be.