The influences of salt replacers on the antioxidative activity of pork

Abstract

Abstract Lowering salt intake is of great importance for reducing blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this research was to study the effects of salt replacers on the antioxidative activity of meat. The treatments were formulated with minced pork muscles that were salted with 2.0% salt (control) or different salt mixtures with reduced sodium content (composition 1 – 1.0 % NaCl + 1.2% KCl (experiment 1), composition 2 – 1.0% NaCl + 0.6% KCl + 0.8% CaCl2 (experiment 2)). After 24 hours of curing, the total antioxidative activity of the antioxidant enzymes was measured. The use of potassium chloride instead of half the sodium chloride did not lead to a significant change in the total antioxidative activity, nor in the activities of glutathione peroxidase and catalase; however, it induced a decrease in the activity of superoxide dismutase (p<0.05). Addition of composition 2 led to a reduction in the total antioxidative activity by 17.7%, and inhibited the activity of superoxide dismutase by 23.8% (p<0.05). The obtained results of the negative effect of the compositions of sodium, potassium and calcium salts suggest the need to develop approaches that allow inhibition of the oxidative changes in meat products with reduced sodium content.