Many older people are put onto a low salt diet because of chronic or acute medical conditions, like high blood pressure and kidney disease.

Others choose low salt regimes to improve mental function which is responsive to salt intake. It’s known that in normal circumstances of climate and activity people need only half a gram of salt a day, way below the official guidelines of 6 - 7 grams.

If you ask them which foods they miss most, they will likely say “cheese”. Its particular flavor and texture can be quite addictive.

However, cheese is very high in salt.

There are exceptions. Some soft versions, like cream cheeses — usually not proprietary brands — can be salt-free. The problem is they don’t really taste or feel like cheese at all.

One solution is Swiss Emmental which is low in salt, but tastes very much like cheese. The Tesco brand contains only 0.2 grams per 30-gram typical serving. Others may vary, so check the labeling.

Bear in mind also that a value for sodium needs to be multiplied by 2.5 to get the full salt content.

Cheese needn’t be a no-go area for low salt dieters.

There’s a new website on the network called Sideways Health which looks at innovative and traditional ways to beat common health problems.

The emphasis is on non-invasive treatments which are both gentle and effective.

There will also be a strand concentrating on the GI method (Glycemic Index) as a way of improving alertness and mental functioning, as well as overall health and optimum weight.

This site is well worth following if you want a different approach to managing your health apart from the expensive, technological methods of conventional medicine and healthcare.

Wireless technology enables people to keep in touch wherever they are by transmitting text, pictures and voice. Often a cellphone is a lifesaver for someone stranded in a car that has broken down, or found themselves in some other emergency in which the cellphone is their only way to communicate their condition to those who can help.

Now at a medical center in Newark, NJ, wireless technology is being used to save lives of patients suffering a heart attack. A new system allows on-call cardiologists to receive ECGs on “smart phones” and be in touch directly with the paramedic on the scene. Before the patient has even arrived at the hospital, the cardiologist has seen the ECG and can instruct the paramedic on life-saving treatment. The ECG can even be sent to the hospital’s cath lab, and patients can be transported directly there, cutting down the door-to-balloon time, the time between arrival at the hospital and the initial inflation of an angioplasty balloon to open a blocked coronary artery.

“We have found a way to receive electrocardiograms from home, from another hospital, from our cars — anywhere we are,” said Vivek N. Dhruva, D.O., academic chief fellow in the Division of Cardiology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)-New Jersey Medical School, who presented the paper. “In only 4 months, we went from being in the bottom 10 percent of hospitals in the time to treatment of heart attack to being in the top 10 percent of hospitals.”

The current guideline for door-to-balloon time is 90 minutes. Using the wireless system, the UMDNJ is now averaging 73 minutes.

Transmitting ECGs to Cardiologists by Smart Phone Cuts Treatment Time in Half

The American Diabetes Association wants you to know your risk for diabetes and heart disease and wants you to know how to lower it. The ADA is launching a new prevention initiative - CheckUp America. If you’re overweight, have unhealthy cholesterol levels, smoke, have high blood glucose or high blood pressure, you have risk factors for diabetes. But you may have other risk factors such as age, race, gender and family history of diabetes.

The ADA offers learning tabs on the problems and risk factors you may have that you and your physician can work together to control and manage. Get more information on subjects such as understanding high blood glucose and managing cholesterol, the role of physical activity and quitting smoking in risk management. You can also download their CheckUp Chart to help you track your cardiometabolic risk factors to lower your risk for diabetes and heart disease.

CheckUp America