The Importance of Reading Labels

A recent article on "Please, don't pass the salt" I decided it was pertinent to post an article on the importance of reading labels.  For those with kidney disease, lowering sodium intake to help control blood pressure is only half the battle... because of decreased kidney function, other electrolytes can get out of balance.  For example, my husband has to limit his potassium intake.  For those of you facing the challenge of adjusting to a low sodium diet know how tough it is.  Also having a potassium limitation adds an additional level of challenge since potassium choloride is a common substitute for table salt in many commercial foods that claim to have "no salt added."  For example, Heinz's "No Salt Tomato Ketchup" lists potassium chloride as one of its ingrediants, and the nutritional facts do NOT list how much potassium is in each serving.  To me, it's very scary to know that potassium has been added, but not to know how much is in each serving.  It took several weeks when my husband was first diagnosed to read the label of every brand whose brand says "no salt" or "low sodium" to figure out those that have not added potassium chloride to replace the sodium.