Sodium contents in corn and wheat snacks sold in the city of Fortaleza, Ceará

Abstract

The sodium usually found in foods in the form of sodium chloride or salt and is an essential nutrient for maintenance of several physiological functions of the organism. The high consumption of salt in the diet can be explained not only by the addition of this condiment for food preparation, but also by the use of industrialized products. This study have focus to determine the sodium content through the information present in nutritional snacks based on corn and wheat-based in accordance with current legislation and relate to household measurement with the portion declared. An assessment on the label of 16 samples, with 8 based on corn and 8 on wheat, on the period from May to August of 2012 in which we observed the amount of sodium per serving, portion and their equivalence as far as having homemade based on the photographic record and calculate the sodium content in 100g of each brand. The average content of sodium found in snacks based on corn was 812 mg sodium / 100g, while the wheat-based snacks was 1018 mg sodium/100g. Evidenced in this work that all samples of chips had high sodium content and that the relationship between the portion declared on the label and household measurement in wheat-based products, showed no conformity between the dimensions of the raw material and the measure and weight.