Salt / Sodium The Hooded Claw for Heart Failure – Part 2

Many people are surprised to discover that many salad dressings, sauces, dips, and condiments such as ketchup,  mustard, and relish rely on high sodium content to achieve a concentrated flavor. Soy sauce, for example, has about 1,160 milligrams of sodium per tablespoon, while ordinary chicken bouillon stock has about 1,100 milligrams per packet. But while bouillon and soy sauce taste recognizably salty, this is not true of many other condiments. Your taste buds may not recognize the flavor as salty despite high quantities of sodium. Some examples:

Italian salad dressing: 430 milligrams in 2 tablespoons

Spaghetti sauce: 850 milligrams in 120ml

Pasta sauce: 1,080 milligrams in 120ml

Pickle relish: 240 milligrams in 1 tablespoon

Sun-dried tomatoes: 1,050 milligrams in 250grams

Barbecue sauce, packet gravies and sauces are also offenders; almost all brands contain extremely high levels of sodium. Olives, capers, and anything pickled are on the bad list too, because pickling requires salty brine. It’s also important to realise that the salt content in condiments is often listed for small quantities, so those who eat ketchup on everything or like their pasta with lots of sauce could be eating double or triple the dose of the sodium listed. And that dehydrated onion soup mix used to make so many party dips? It’s one of the worst traps of all, with more than 3,000 mg of sodium in one packet!