Are Salt Substitutes Safe?

Sugar gets most of the attention, but people with diabetes need to think about salt, too. Too much sodium -- the mineral in salt -- can raise your blood pressure, and high blood pressure can threaten both your heart and your kidneys. Simply having diabetes also puts these organs at risk, and you don't want high blood pressure to add to the danger.

The American Diabetes Association recommends eating no more than 2,400 milligrams (mg) of sodium each day, about what you would typically get from a cup of canned chicken noodle soup, a bacon cheeseburger, and five salted pretzels.

Your doctor may suggest cutting back even more. Start by cutting back on what you add to cooking, which accounts for about 11 percent of the average person's daily intake of salt.

You should cut back on the following:

Salt and seasoned salt (or salt seasonings)
Boxed mixes of potatoes, rice, or pasta
Canned meats
Canned soups and vegetables (with sodium)
Cured or processed foods
Ketchup, mustard, salad dressings, other spreads, and canned sauces
Packaged soups, gravies, or sauces
Pickled foods
Processed meats: lunch meat, sausage, bacon, and ham
Olives
Salty snack foods
Monosodium glutamate or MSG (often added to Chinese food)
Soy and steak sauces

If you're trying to kick the salt habit, you may wonder if salt substitutes are worth a try. Filling your shaker with a low-salt or salt-free alternative can definitely help you cut back on sodium, especially if you're the type who tends to use the shaker at every meal. Salt substitutes are generally safe -- if you can stand the taste -- but there's a catch. Just about every salt substitute contains potassium, a mineral that can be extremely dangerous to people who already have weakened kidneys. Your kidneys help clear potassium from the blood. And if they aren't doing the job as well as they should, you could develop a potassium overload. This condition -- called hyperkalemia -- can be potentially fatal if not treated right away.

Unless you've just had a kidney test, it's hard to know if your kidneys are working as they should. For this reason, you'd be better off going easy on salt AND salt substitutes.

In addition to putting away your shaker, you should check the sodium levels on nutrition labels and avoid salty foods at restaurants.

Diabetes: 4 Things to Look For on Food Labels

How to make food more flavorful without salt

To make foods more flavorful, use herbs and salt-free spice blends when cooking at home with the following:

Basil
Celery seeds
Chili powder
Chives
Cinnamon
Cocoa powder
Cumin
Curry
Dill
Flavoring extracts (vanilla, almond, etc.)
Garlic
Garlic powder
Lemon or lime juice
Marjoram
Mint
No-salt seasoning blends
Nutmeg
Onion powder
Oregano
Paprika
Parsley
Pepper
Pimiento
Rosemary
Sage
Savory
Thyme

You can also try squeezing some lemon on vegetables in place of salt.

Seasoned Salt: Good Or Bad (And What To Use Instead)

The following tips will help you keep your food tasty without salt:

Use fresh ingredients or foods with no salt added.
For favorite recipes, you may need to use other ingredients and delete or decrease the salt you would normally add. Salt can be taken out of most recipes unless the recipe calls for yeast.
Try orange or pineapple juice as a base for meat marinades.
Avoid canned soups, entrees, and vegetables; pasta and rice mixes; frozen dinners; instant cereal; and pudding, gravy, and sauce mixes.
Select frozen entrees that have fewer than 600 milligrams of sodium per serving (140 mg of sodium per serving is considered low sodium). The nutrition facts label on the package should tell you the sodium content. You should only eat one frozen entree per day.
Use fresh, frozen, or no-added-salt canned vegetables.
Use low-sodium canned soups.
Avoid mixed seasonings and spice blends that include salt, such as garlic salt.

After about two weeks, your body should adjust to not having salt. You'll find that foods don't have to be salty to be delicious.

By Jason Henderson, BDO Staff Writer | Published March 15, 2022