According to an article published in Medical News Today, March 2014, adding spices and herbs to food help reduce salt intake in adults. The article states “Research presented at an American Heart Association meeting shows that a behavioral intervention in adults encouraging use of herbs and spices – instead of salt – on food results in a decrease in sodium consumption, compared with adults who tried reducing sodium on their own.”
Researchers conducted a two phase study. In phase 1, participants ate a low sodium diet for 4 weeks. The study was very controlled in that all of the food and drink for the 4 weeks was provided by the researchers. In phase 2, half of the phase 1 participants enrolled in a 20-week behavioral intervention. They attempted to keep sodium intake to 1,500 mg per day by substituting salt with spices and herbs. The other half of the participants were asked to reduce salt intake on their own.
The 20-week intervention group received cooking demonstrations and learned how to change recipes by substituting salt with spices and herbs. Specific spices and herbs were not recommended but researchers encouraged participates to experiment with different spices and use what tasted the best.
Adding Spices and Herbs Help Reduce Salt Intake
Here’s what they found: “Although overall sodium intake increased from the first phase, in the second phase, the group that received the behavioral intervention consumed around 966 mg/day of sodium less than the group that did not receive the intervention.”
Simply put, the spices and herbs group consumed less sodium.
These results are encouraging in that they demonstrate that teaching individuals how to flavor food using spices and herbs in place of salt will help lower sodium intake and will be more effective in the long term than just having individuals reduce salt intake on their own.
