Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Trends in Food Science & Technology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tifs Plant-derived seasonings as sodium salt replacers in food Diego Taladrid a , Laura Laguna a,b , Begoña Bartolomé a , M. Victoria Moreno-Arribas a,∗ a Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL), CSIC-UAM. C/ Nicolás Cabrera 9, 28049, Madrid, Spain b Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA), CSIC. C/ Agustín Escardino 7, 46980, Paterna, Valencia, Spain ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Hypertension Sodium replacement Herbs Spices Grape and winery by-products Sensory acceptance ABSTRACT Background: Reduction of the consumption of sodium salt (i.e., NaCl) is widely recommended for the preven- tion/treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Many substitutes of sodium salt have been proposed, although their technical requirements, aptitudes and/or sensory attributes might not be yet attractive enough for efective sodium replacement in the diet. Scope and approach: The objective of this review is to give a critical overview of the use of plant-derived sea- soning products in order to reduce salt content in foods. For that, we have compiled knowledge about the sensory properties and health benefts of main classes of dietary plants, herbs, spices, and their blends that have been previously categorized in the literature as salt replacers. We also report data about grape-derived extracts that are currently seen as promising food ingredients for this purpose. Key findings and conclusion: Several plant-derived seasonings (i.e., garlic, deadnettle family, herb blends, safron and hot spices) have demonstrated good consumer acceptability when used as sodium replacers. In contrast, there is still scarce information about the sensory impact of grape-derived products when incorporated into food/recipes. Bibliography also shows that these plant-derived seasonings seem to have positive efects ameli- orating biomarkers of hypertension, which makes them an interesting approach to decrease sodium salt con- sumption in hypertensive individuals. Future trends in low sodium diet with seasoning incorporation should also pay attention to the acceptability at the diferent stages of the food product/recipe development. Moreover, there is a need for well-designed and easy consumer analysis, that could be achieve by incorporating quantitative consumer sensory techniques that are currently available such as Just About Right Scale, Check All That Apply questions or napping technique. 1. Introduction Cardiovascular diseases are the primary cause of mortality and morbidity in both developed and developing countries, accounting for approximately 20% of global deaths (WHO, 2013). Blood pressure (BP) plays a crucial role in this sense as 45% of cardiovascular disorders are related to high values of this parameter. Non-pathological average va- lues for systolic (SBP, blood pressure during the contraction phase of the cardiac cycle) and diastolic (DBP, blood pressure during the re- laxation) blood pressure are 120 and 89 mm Hg, respectively. The term “pre-hypertension” is used when SBP is between 120 and 139 mmHg or/and DBP between 80 and 89 mmHg (Weber et al., 2014). Control of hypertension is a current global health challenge. According to Mills et al. (2016), about 30% of people around the world had hypertension in 2010. Untreated hypertension can lead to several degenerative diseases as kidney damage, dementia or blindness (August 2004; Freedman & Cohen, 2016) and it is the main risk factor for cardiovascular, stroke and kidney diseases (Bhor, Kotade, & Wagh, 2016). There are two types of hypertension: primary or essential, and secondary. Essential hypertension, which is behind the 90–95% of hy- pertension cases, is triggered by the combined action of diferent die- tetic and behavioral, genetic and environmental factors. Therefore, modifcations in lifestyle habits such as quitting smoking, healthy diet, moderate alcohol consumption, physical activity (3–4 days/week, averaging 40 min per session) and lower sodium intake (< 2,4 g/day) among others, are the frst recommendations to fght hypertension (James et al., 2014). High dietary sodium intake has been particularly associated with blood pressure and hypertension, as well as with the increased risk of cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease (Riches, Aveyard, Piernas, Rayner, & Jebb, 2019). Since long time ago, the food industry has been using sodium salt (i.e., NaCl) as a preserving agent as it reduces water activity, limits oxygen solubility, interferes with enzymes and forces cells to spend energy in sodium excretion, all obstructing microbial growth (Shelef & https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2020.03.002 Received 6 October 2019; Received in revised form 2 March 2020; Accepted 3 March 2020 ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: victoria.moreno@csic.es (M.V. Moreno-Arribas). Trends in Food Science & Technology 99 (2020) 194–202 Available online 06 March 2020 0924-2244/ © 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd. T