In vitro monitoring of sodium release during carrots chewing: influence of salting practices

International audience ; Overconsumption of salt is a major concern due to its consequences on human health. Approximately 9 to 12 grams of salt are consumed worldwide per adult and per day whereas recommendations for salt intake are less than 5 g/day for adults [1]. Excessive intake of dietary salt is a major contributor to increased blood pressure which is the leading risk of death in the world [2]. A reduction in salt intake is one of the most important strategies for improving public health and preventing people from dying or suffering from strokes, heart attacks, and heart failure [3]. Discretionary salt contributes significantly to salt intake but has received very little attention so far and it is not clearly targeted by recommendations. The transdisciplinary research project Sal&Mieux aims at optimizing the use of discretionary salt by citizens when cooking and seasoning to contribute to lower the dietary sodium intake.One objective of the Sal&Mieux project is to determine whether optimized domestic cooking practices can maintain discretionary salt use. We set up studies on carrots cooked in water and modulate salt addition, either at a regular or reduced level, and either during or after the cooking process. In addition, three types of salt were compared: Fleur de sel, fine sea salt, and micronized salt. Sensory evaluation with untrained panelists showed that whatever the salt level, a higher salty taste intensity was perceived when salt was added after cooking [4]. A hypothesis to explain these results is that adding salt after cooking leads to a heterogeneous distribution of salt at the surface of the food matrix [5], which produces a pulse of saltiness at the beginning of the food oral processing [6].To confirm this hypothesis, we set up an experiment to monitor the release of salt during the mastication of carrots prepared following the different salting conditions. To control the masticatory process and ensure reproducibility, salt release monitoring was performed in vitro using an ...