Recently the NY Times looked at the level of sodium consumption – noting that “that 150,000 lives could be saved annually if sodium levels in packaged and restaurant foods were cut in half.”
Americans are consuming 3,300 mg per day – much of it coming from processed foods.
It seems fitting that over the last few weeks I have been trying out a salt substitute: AlsoSalt.
AlsoSalt is based on Potassium chloride, and L-lysine (an amino acid).
While salt from the salt-shaker apparently only contributes to 10% of our sodium intake – it’s worth taking a look at.
3 Flavors
AlsoSalt offer three flavors – original, garlic, and butter flavor.
While I’m not a big salt eater – there are some foods (think roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes) that just cry out for a bit of salt.
I found the AlsoSalt was a worthy substitute. It did enhance flavor by giving the food that “saltiness” flavor. I made the mistake of tasting it directly on the tongue and thinking “this isn’t quite like salt” — but then you don’t eat salt directly from the shaker.
Does AlsoSalt Do the Trick?
Salt is salt and you are never going to find a perfect sodium-free replacement for it. For me personally it’s a non-event – I very rarely add salt to my meals (or even during cooking) – so I’m not about to start buying a salt substitute.
However if sodium-induced high blood pressure is an issue for you – then it’s worth giving this a go. Indeed I sent some to a family member who has high blood pressure and has low potassium levels.
AlsoSalt have a comprehensive web site here. And, they’ll even send you some free samples to try.
Thanks to the people at Culture Captioning for sending me this sample. NOTE: This is not a paid review in any shape or form, and was chosen purely as editorial content.
You do realize that this article isn’t owned or associated with the company in question? It’s just telling about their product.
My husband ordered items back in September, 2011 and here it is December and no product. Called multiple times, always promised another order sent – none ever received. Asked for call to be returned and money back and haven’t gotten either. This is unacceptable. What happened to standing behind your product and service?
I’d like to say I’ve tried AlsoSalt so that I can give you my opinion. I ordered AlsoSalt from their website at the end of September, but never received the product. When I placed my order, the confirmation I received said it could take up to four weeks–which seemed ridiculous to start with–but it’s been way past four weeks and still no AlsoSalt. No response to the email I sent to their customer service department, either. I thoughte ordering from the manufacturer would be a safe bet, but apparently not.
Potassium is a good & wonderful mineral, but just like a few other posters mentioned, potassium may potentially cause issues when used to replace salt (more accurately sodium) in one’s diet, especially in large amounts. Ingesting excessively high levels of anything, no matter how good of a thing it may be (even good, clean water) can potentially create new, sometimes life-threatening, problems. Usually, a person’s system is already out of whack before they consider, much less use, salt subs. A healthy person can lick a salt lick all day & never suffer from water retention or high blood pressure. Those issues are merely symptoms of other problems: leaky heart valves, venous stasis, kidney malfunction, etc. What we may see as the problem is actually our bodies reaction, a warning sign of something bigger. Remember that in life, most everything is best in moderation. Word to the wise, check with your your doctor to make sure that you’re not robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak. And if your doc says go-for-it, use a truckload (just joking).
And yes, Deb, I do agree that it makes no sense for Also Salt to offer only small shaker bottles of a healthful salt sub while any consumer can buy a quart of Morton’s, two for a dollar on sale, most anywhere. It does seem out of balance. Most of us have to buy online as there are few to no local distributors of the product. Who wants to have to be miserly while waiting for package of it to be delivered? Or worse, run out it of?!
Plus, if the sticker shock didn’t get a person on the shaker size, a bulk size with a pricier tag, but even a slightly lower price per ounce would not be a problem. As you say, it would be a wonderful convenience.
I guess what the question should be is: What type of bulk purchasing are you looking at? I’m assuming not the aforementioned truckload.
I’m pretty sure there must be nursing homes that use Also Salt, if not in the kitchen to prepare foods for the people with special dietary needs, at least have shakers out on their dining tables for patient/resident use. Assuredly, those institutions would buy in bulk, if not at wholesale pricing. At least if I worked for the company, that’s what I’d be looking toward, soliciting reoccurring sales to large accounts, making for industry credibility. I’d be making sure individual packets were made available for use hospitals with contact info printed on them. (Keep in mind, patients in the hospital for CHF or HF are looking for easy answers to salt reduction/sodium elimination in their diet. That hospital stay may be the wakeup that they need to make dietary & lifestyle changes immediately. Patients are usually initially confused & overwhelmed by what’s going on around them & in their bodies, especially during their first hospital stay. While Also Salt is not an elixir, or even an easy answer, it may be a step in a better direction for most people. Most people have good intentions of changing their habits while in the hospital, but they sometimes need tools to make those intentions a long-term thing. Most patients return to eating high sodium diets within days or weeks of leaving the hospital, partly due to the new diet tasting so different from the old one. Also Salt can be a healthy, pleasant-tasting segway for the lifelong saltaholic. Eliminating processed foods & hidden sodium in a person’s diet is the longterm goal, to be encouraged through nutritional education & their doctor’s guidance, but if a patient initially can feel more comfortable, even happy, about getting the salt shaker off their table, they will, in turn, feel less helpless & more proactive in their overall healthcare. All they’re being told is: Don’t do all of these things you’ve previously enjoyed / start doing all of these things you probably won’t like / on-top-of that, foods aren’t going to taste good to you anymore. No wonder they return to bad eating habits. Patients would be eager to at least try Also Salt during the hospital portion of their recuperation, when no salt is even available. They would approach it with an open mind. I think sales of Also Salt would increase due to the exposure. Maybe not everyone would search out a supplier, contact the company, &/or continue to use the product, but I’m sure some would. People like their salt, period. They don’t like a metallic taste in conduction with it & since Also Salt is the only product of it’s kind, exposure to the masses in as many ways as possible is the key. (Mrs. Dash packets are on the low-sodium hospital trays, why not Also Salt?) Widespread use in assisted living facilities, group homes, hospitals, etc. would attest to mainstream creditability of their unique product. Unfortunately sometimes docs & nurses think people will just stop eating & liking salt, simply because it is now ‘bad’ for them. Health professionals need to realize humans usually want what’s most familiar to them even if it’s not good for them. People won’t eat food that doesn’t taste good to them. And since Americans don’t generally live in prison cells, when eventually they get hungry enough they’ll probably eat what tastes good. Salt, Also Salt, Mrs Dash, lemon juice added, herbs, plain, etc., but most return to salt/sodium. Also Salt should be encouraged for those individuals who won’t go without.
Sorry about ramble, Deb. It’s not directed at you. You’re smart. You are proactive about what you eat, have found an acceptable way to have the salt taste you like without the mineral itself, & want to stay on track with it. Kudos to you. You are to be congratulated.
It’s just that I got to thinking about a couple of the other posters. Why are they even on this site, much less posting, if they’re diet is so perfect? The people who don’t desire the taste of salt or who have successful eliminated salt from their diets heap judgement on those individuals struggling to accommodate. It is so unfair. Many times even the very healthcare system, that is supposed to be helping, actually does more harm than good. I work as a nurse & so often see the general assumption at the outset that a person is going to fail at dietary adjustment, so why really bother to try to make a difference, just do the lip service of telling them the ‘right’ things to do, while, in the background, one is to actively reticule, the individual by always letting them know that it’s their own fault they are having problems. Self-proclaimed eaters of perfect diets & health nuts are biggest culprits, but like I said the system doesn’t help. People need support, tools & education in amounts they can handle, without the judgement. (BTW: I don’t like salt, eat only organic, no hormones, etc, & would not be saying so, but if I didn’t, someone will say I must be what is called ‘a salty’ at work. A salty eats out a lot, loves fast food, fried foods, soda, & processed foods. No. I am just defending people from Food Bullies)
Peace & Health
Your comment irritated me enough to make me join this website just so I could comment back. “I’m not a fan of substitute products that supposedly allow people to have their cake and eat it too” So you are saying if you are a person who just likes salty food and you are concerned about what it will do to your health so you are choosing to eat a salt substitute that it would be considered a bad thing? It is not crystal meth–it is salt, and there’s not reason people shouldn’t enjoy the flavor of it, because you don’t consider it real food. If you don’t like processed food and salt, good for you, but other people do which is why we are reading a review for the product. We don’t need a lecture of a lesson from you. Do you not ever eat low calorie or light foods that are similiar to their higher fat counterparts? Hopefully not, because that would be having your cake and eating it too, and that’s bad apparently!
What are the ingredients in the all purpose blend? I can’t find details anywhere on their website. I’m willing to try it, but I need to know what’s in it first.
The Absolutly best tasting salt substitute is “Salt Free Seasoning” by Alden Mill House, in Michigan, I buy it from their website and it is fantastic. Trust me for someone who is absolute salt-a-holic this stuff is great, you can taste it straight from the bottle with no after taste, and it tastes great on everything.
This really does taste great, but I am going through so many bottles so fast–can this be bought in bulk? By the pound?
@diet blog: AlsoSalt needs to be used on food as you would use salt. If you put it directly on your tongue, you can taste a bit of the potassium chloride. But used on or in food, all you taste is the flavor of salt. Our patented process masks the bitter metallic aftertaste that all of the other salts subs have. Plus it is all natural and supplies nutrients that are essential to good health.
Very interesting observations and very valid about how medication can be impacted but what we eat and what we use as substitutes in our foods. One thing which few people consider is that if they are eating foods rich in potassium and magnesium, the sodium issue would become moot. I had a client approach me for a natural approach to controlling her blood pressure – she didn’t like the way the blood pressure pills were making her feel. I ran her a list of vegetables and fruits which are rich in those minerals and told her to review it with her doctor. He approved her dietary adjustments and by the end of the month her blood pressure had returned to levels low enough to forego the medications. It has been 6 months and she is still off all blood pressure meds and doing well.
The average American consumes 4500 mg of sodium a day to 1800 mg of potassium. Unfortunately, the amounts should be reversed. You should be ingesting 4500 mg of potassium to 1800 mg of sodium. One major source of sodium which no one really considers is your drinking water. It is a naturally occuring mineral in your water and we cannot contol what is in our water but we can control what is in our food. So, even if you do eat a low sodium diet that does not give you a true reflection of how much sodium you are ingesting a day.
@spectra – yes when I tasted the AlsoSalt directly from the jar it did have that slight “metallic” taste to it…
@frances – I think you have the truth of it. But in this age market demand drives supply and self-denial is not a popular concept.
I think the debacle that has occured over artificial fat might be a clue that food substitutes are on their way out. Five years ago our medical office advised a diet close to nature.They made no mention of the word fat or salt. In our low fat world I thought that was odd. I studied on both sides of the fence. I am a true believer that nothing can be substituted. If you believe something is bad, break the habit. Although it can’t be done 100%, I believe eating mostly fresh meats and vegatbles or nothing added frozen foods will reduce fat, salt and calories. I think the food processing industry picks up on health advice and distorts it.
Caramelle-Oh (and anyone who cares): it’s EAT your cake and have it too. Big deal if you have a piece of cake and eat it…. the point being made when this expression is used, is that it’s *impossible* to eat your cake and still have it.
*sigh*
I love reading posts here, and I beg the indulgence of all for my ridiculous need to correct the misuse of words.
I agree with Mark.
Another point is what most consumers do not realize when they purchase refined salt – so that it is pure white and ‘pours’ – all the good trace minerals are extracted and of course the actual sodium becomes more concentrated. This is why using true unrefined salts such as Himalaya or similar has much lower sodium and in very small amounts is good for you.
Someone brought up the potassium/sodium ratio. This is very important as well as magnesium.
Still another point is that if you are dedicated to drinking at least 2 litres a day of water, then you MUST add a healthy pinch of good salt per litre. This helps keep the electrolites, potassium and other minerals in balance. Without it, one ‘pees’ the good minerals away.
Too little water, and the body begins to retain it. Add concentrated refined sodium (table salt) to the problem in excess, then of course there is more ‘water retention’ and one thinks the answer is drink less water.
It is all about the healthy balance. I too am against imitations, but all for educating the masses.
The other ingredient mention above is calcium stearate. It is used as an anti-caking ingredient.
I think this kind of fake food is silly. Salt is a perfectly good food in moderation.
Since 3/4 of your sodium intake comes from processed food and restaurant food, your first line of defense should be to prepare your own meals. You can liberally use salt and soy sauce in cooking, and still end up cutting your sodium intake in half, while eating good, tasty, salty food.
If at that point your blood pressure is still too high, look to your BMI. Are you fat? If so, losing weight is going to do your blood pressure more good than cutting back on salt.
If you’re thin and you don’t eat processed food and your blood pressure is still high, at that point these kinds of products may make sense. A better option may to snag a used copy of Craig Claiborne’s Gourmet Diet from Amazon or abe.com, and use his clever recipes that use other spices, vinegar, and the like to satisfy without salt — or fake salt.
We bought a “lite” salt made with potassium chloride to cut the sodium when my mom was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease and had to go on a very low sodium diet. The lite salt was okay, but it had a strange metallic taste to it from the potassium. I wonder if this stuff is similar. I myself prefer to use sodium-free Mrs. Dash or Pleasoning on my food…it tastes really good and there’s no salt.
Are there more ingredients than the two mentioned in the web site.
I’m not a fan of substitute products that supposedly allow people to have their cake and eat it too. I can see that there might be some potential for health benefits from this product, but at the end of the day, the only long-term solution is for people to adjust their tastebuds to appreciate the subtle flavours of REAL food.
I did it without even knowing it, slowly removing one “vice” from my diet at a time, until I realised one day that when I ate processed food I didn’t enjoy the artificial and extra-salty flavours. I think that the huge array of products like this (salty and sweet) stop people from enjoying real food because they believe their cravings are being satisfied with no apparent consequences.
Your friend is not using an ACE inhibitor to control the blood pressure, I hope. If so, the friend should not take potassium or if s/he does, monitor blood levels closely for hyperkalemia which is a risk on ACE inhibitors and other drugs such as Yasmin. I take an ACE inhibitor myself and have been warned to avoid potassium supplementation.
I also rarely add salt to my meals, but I have heard good things about AlsoSalt.
Sounds good – substitute foods are a great idea. They help people give up the foods that give them health problems without forcing them to give up the things they enjoy about the food itself.