You are trying to make a healthy choice at the grocery store, so you reach for a product with a “healthy” sounding label. However, many of these claims are clever marketing tricks. They are designed to create a “health halo” around a product that is secretly loaded with a huge amount of sodium. Manufacturers will often use salt to replace the flavor that is lost when they remove other ingredients, like fat or sugar. This makes these twelve “healthy” label claims a major red flag for high sodium content.
1. “Low-Fat” or “Fat-Free”
When a company removes the fat from a product like a salad dressing or a cookie, they have to add something else to make it taste good. They almost always add a huge amount of sugar and salt. A “low-fat” product is often a high-sodium product in disguise. You must always check the nutrition panel to see what the fat has been replaced with.
2. “Heart Healthy”
The “Heart Healthy” claim is often found on processed foods like canned soups and frozen dinners. While the product may be low in fat, the company will often pump it full of sodium to make it more flavorful. It is not uncommon for a single serving of a “heart-healthy” soup to contain more than half of your daily recommended sodium intake.
3. “Gluten-Free”
The “gluten-free” label is not a synonym for “healthy.” Many gluten-free processed foods, like pretzels and crackers, rely on a huge amount of salt to make them palatable. The alternative flours that are used in these products often do not have a lot of flavor on their own. This means the company has to add a lot of extra salt to make them taste good.
4. “Organic” (on a processed food)
The “organic” label is a certification of the farming method. It is not a guarantee that a product is low in sodium. A can of “organic” soup or a box of “organic” mac and cheese is still a processed food. It can be just as high in sodium as its conventional counterpart.
5. “Made with Real Vegetables”
The claim “made with real vegetables” is a classic marketing trick. It is often found on snacks like veggie straws or on a jar of pasta sauce. The product may contain a small amount of vegetable powder. However, it is also likely to contain a huge amount of salt to make it more flavorful and shelf-stable.
6. “Reduced Sodium”
The “reduced sodium” label can be very misleading. It simply means that the product contains at least 25% less sodium than the company’s original version. If the original version was incredibly high in sodium to begin with, the “reduced sodium” version can still be a very high-sodium product.
7. “Natural”
The word “natural” on a food label is a legally meaningless marketing term. It is often used on highly processed foods, like deli meats and frozen dinners, that are loaded with salt. The salt itself is a “natural” mineral, so the claim is technically true but very deceptive.
8. “Plant-Based”
Many new, plant-based meat alternatives are marketed as a healthy choice. While they can be a good source of protein, many of them are also very high in sodium. The companies will use a large amount of salt and other flavorings to make the plant-based product taste more like real meat.
9. “High in Fiber”
A product that is high in fiber, like a whole-grain bread or a bran cereal, can still be a secret salt bomb. As we have seen, bread is a major source of hidden sodium. The “high in fiber” claim is designed to distract you from the other, less healthy parts of the nutrition panel.
10. “Good Source of Protein”
The “good source of protein” claim is often used on processed foods like frozen dinners and canned soups. These products will often use a huge amount of salt to make their low-quality ingredients taste better. You may be getting some protein, but you are also getting a massive dose of sodium.
11. “Lightly Salted”
There is no legal definition for what “lightly salted” means. It is a completely subjective and unregulated term. A product that is labeled as “lightly salted” can still have a very high sodium content. It is a marketing phrase that is designed to make you feel better about a salty snack.
12. “No Sugar Added”
When a company removes the sugar from a product, it often adds more salt to compensate for the loss of flavor. This is common in products like canned vegetables and sauces. The “no sugar added” claim on the front of the can can hide the high sodium content.
The Salty Side of “Healthy”
The “healthy” claims on the front of a food package are often a deliberate and deceptive marketing strategy. They are designed to create a “health halo” that can hide a variety of sins, and the most common of these sins is an excessive amount of sodium. The only way to know the truth is to ignore the buzzwords on the front of the package. You must turn the box over to read the hard facts that are on the nutrition panel. The sodium content is a number that cannot lie.
What is the most surprisingly salty “healthy” food you have ever found? How do you manage your sodium intake when you are shopping for processed foods? Let us know!
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