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100 popular frozen meals ranked by sodium content
When shopping for healthy food, you probably check the Nutrition Facts label for calories and fat — but even the seemingly “healthy” foods can sometimes pack absurd amounts of sodium.
Too much salt can lead to high blood pressure, a condition that affects about one in three Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those with high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, are at a significantly higher risk for heart disease, stroke and heart failure, among other conditions.
Sodium is naturally present in some foods, but it’s also used in processed foods to prevent the growth of bacteria, bind ingredients, enhance color and give food a firmer texture, according to the American Heart Association.
Our body requires about 180 mg to 500 mg of sodium a day in order to maintain the right balance of fluids in the body, transmit nerve impulses and maintain muscle function.
The recommended daily sodium level is 1,500 mg, with 2,300 mg being the very highest amount we should consume in a day. For a low-sodium label, the Food and Drug Administration requires food products to have no more than 140 mg of sodium per serving. A product’s packaging can’t claim it’s “healthy” if it exceeds 480 mg of sodium per reference amount.
Since frozen meals are one of those products that tend to be high in sodium, we decided to do some grocery shopping and find out just how much is in the most popular brands. Boston Market and Hungry Man apparently love the salt — not that we were expecting anything incredibly healthy from either brand. But what was somewhat surprising was that plenty of Weight Watchers meals had more sodium than Hot Pockets, and some meals from natural and organic food brand Amy’s contained more than 700 mg.
Tags: Boston Market, frozen dinners, frozen meals, healthy eating, Hot Pockets, Hungry Man, infographic, Lean Cuisine, Marie Calendar's, nutrition, Smart Ones, sodium, Stouffer's, Weight Watchers
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Is it true that Weight Watchers is going to be putting quotation marks around the “Smart” in “Smart Ones”?
Funny! Wait until you see our list of sodium in soups — they’re so much worse! That one will be published on Monday morning. Thanks for reading!
This information is of questionable value when current information is that the low salt diet may increase the risks of cardiovascular disease and questions current drives to reduce salt intake. At the very least the decades long drive to reduce salt intake to prevent hypertension has not been substantiated.
David, it’s actually very accepted in the medical community that a high-sodium diet increases a person’s risk for high blood pressure, which can lead to heart disease and stroke. If you’d like to learn more about it, here’s a link to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s information on it: http://www.cdc.gov/VitalSigns/Sodium/
Our bodies do need salt to work properly. Like I mentioned in the article, humans require about 180 mg to 500 mg of sodium a day in order to maintain the right balance of fluids in the body. But we consume on average about 3,400 mg a day. It’s just another ingredient in food that we need to consume in moderation.
Interesting, but not new info. As a frozen food loving American (with high blood pressure), I’d prefer a list of convenient low-sodium alternates. I’ve found those to be more difficult to find than I would’ve thought. The problem with healthy diet changes is we’re too often told what to avoid, but not what to replace it with.
Skip, thanks for the feedback! This is meant to be a reference for both: what to avoid and what to choose instead. The lower-sodium options closer to the bottom of the list are what we found to be the best options. Obviously, if you’re strictly watching your sodium intake and have a condition like hypertension, fresh rather than frozen meals would be a better option. We wanted to use the brands that most people find in their local grocery, but maybe in the future we’ll do something on smaller brands that could be good alternatives if you know where to find them.
[...] week, I received an email from HellaWella with an interesting infographic ranking frozenmeal brands based on their sodium content. As you probably know, seemly “healthy” foods can sometimes pack large amounts of [...]