Salt, or sodium chloride (NaCl), has been used as a food preservative and a seasoning agent for years and years. In certain cultures, in which prepared foods are widely consumed, salt has become the most widely used seasoning agent, so much so that it is arguably used more than it should be or at least more than might be recommended for maintaining healthy eating practices.
It is generally accepted that eating too much salt is a significant risk factor in developing high blood pressure, itself a cause or contributing factor in the rising incidence of heart disease, one of the world's most deleterious diseases. High blood pressure affects 600 million people worldwide and contributes to 7 million deaths per year, in addition to creating billions of dollars of health care costs relating to complications arising from high blood pressure (HBP) and other cardiovascular conditions.
The medical establishment and the governmental authorities in both the United States and the United Kingdom generally recommend a reduction in per capita salt consumption of from about 10 to 12 g per day, that is believed to be common, to a level of about 6 g per day, which is equivalent to 2400 mg of sodium.
The most recent Dietary Guidelines issued in the U.S. suggest a proposed consumption limit of 2300 mg of sodium per day and the National Academy of Science (NAS) even suggests a more stringent limit of 1500 mg of sodium per day. The NAS also recommends a potassium consumption limit of 4,700 mg per day, while the actual per capita daily consumption of potassium is less than half of that level.
It is generally believed that the major source of sodium consumption is from prepared foods and restaurant meals, which together apparently account for 80% or more of the dietary sodium intake in developed countries. Salt is included in prepared foods and restaurant foods both for taste and for flavor. With the existing technology, past attempts to reduce salt in prepared foods and restaurant foods has found poor acceptance by consumers conditioned by years of eating foods that are relatively high in salt and sodium. Nevertheless, the food industry continues to look for new ways to minimize the amount of sodium in prepared foods and restaurant foods, traditionally seasoned with salt.
A large number of researchers have developed a wide variety of salt substitutes. The classical approach to production of salt substitutes involves combining the sodium and potassium salts, or occasionally magnesium salts, in various ratios and adding a wide variety of other additives to this mix. The other additives are generally added to mask or at least partially reduce the generally metallic/bitter taste of potassium that has generally been associated with salt substitutes containing potassium. The processing techniques used to make these products include, among others, simple blending, agglomeration, extrusion cooking and the like.
The additives, binders or modifiers, as they are variously called, have generally included compounds such as autolysed yeast extracts, hydrolysed proteins and/or amino acids, nucleotides such as disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate and/or monosodium glutamate, ascorbic acid, sugar alcohols, alkali metal gluconates, organic acid/salts, phosphoric acid/salts, brown sugar, dextrins, sugars, modified starches, pre-gelled starches, hydrocolloids, proteins, gums, methylcelluloses, ethylcelluloses, corn syrup solids, starches, maltodextrins, corn syrup solids, high-melting point fats and the like. Most recently, spices/seasonings and flavonoids from fruits and vegetables have also been used.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,862 discloses salt substitute granules in which an inner core comprising a nonsweet carbohydrate bulking agent is coated with sodium chloride by either agglomeration or spray drying.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,556,566; 4,556,567; and 4,556,568 teach compositions in which a core of potassium chloride is coated with a maltodextrin ('567), a coating mixture of maltodextrin and sodium chloride ('566), and a coating mixture of maltodextrin, sodium chloride and cream of tarter (potassium bitartrate) ('568).
Popplewell et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,090,419) report preparing a salt substitute including a masking agent or “binding agent” that is extruded with a combination of sodium chloride, potassium chloride and a suitable plasticizer (e.g. water), then dried and ground in to appropriate particle sizes for use. Binding agents used or suggested by Popplewell et al. include the following type of ingredients, either alone or in combination: dextrins, sugars, modified starches, pre-gelled starches, hydrocolloids, proteins, gums, methylcelluloses, ethylcelluloses, corn syrup solids, and high-melting point fats. Cross-linking binding agents such as alginate with calcium ions, onion granules/powder, garlic granules/powder, capsicum granules/powder and spices are also reported as possible binding agents.
One of the drawbacks of these compositions, however, is the relatively high cost of the “masking” or “binding” agents, the limited ability of the masking that it provided and further taste or color changes attributable to the binding agent. Another drawback is that processing the sodium chloride with the modifier results in masking the sodium chloride's “salty flavor” as well as the bitter/metallic flavors of the potassium chloride.
These patented formulas/mixtures have advanced the state of the art for salt substitutes, although none of them have achieved parity with respect to the taste of simple salt. Most of the patents disclosing these formulas do not disclose independent sensory evaluations. While some masking of potassium has been achieved in some of these formulas, in many cases a new ‘flavor’ has been introduced (the flavor of the additive itself), thereby limiting the number of acceptable uses of the particular salt substitute. A prime example is savory flavor contributed by yeast extract and/or amino acids. All of these not only created complexity but also added to the cost of the final product. Therefore, some of these formulations/end products are extremely high priced in comparison to common salt. Thus, there is still room for improvement both in terms of sensory and price/value—to achieve commercial acceptability by the consumers. The technology we have described here addresses both the cost and sensory issues.
Thus, there remains a need for salt substitutes which do not have the drawbacks mentioned above. Because salt and any substitutes therefore are essentially treated as commodity products within the food industry, cost of preparation is a significant factor that relates directly to cost effectiveness of any resulting product of any process for making salt substitutes that are used as substitutes for common salt. Specifically, there remains a need for a salt substitute which does not have off-flavors, has a similar appearance to salt, and is easy and inexpensive to make. There also remains a need for a simple process for preparing such a salt substitute.