Choose the Healthiest Ketchup
The main ingredients in ketchup are healthy—concentrated, ripe red tomatoes, distilled vinegar and onion powder, as well as natural flavoring and other spices. But many brands add high fructose corn syrup and salt. In fact, some brands have as much as 230 milligrams (mg) of sodium and 4 grams of sugar in a single tablespoon.
“Also, people tend to use more than the recommended one tablespoon per serving,” says Morgan Dickison, a registered dietitian nutritionist at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Comprehensive Weight Control Center. “It’s easy to consume three to four tablespoons in a single meal, so it’s important to proactively limit your intake,” she says. For instance, dip the tip of a food into ketchup instead of smothering it from end to end—and when you do consume ketchup, choose a healthy brand.
However, Dickison says, ketchup is not all bad. The organic brands featured in our chart below—Good Food for Good, Mother Raw, Primal Kitchen, Annie’s, and Woodstock Foods—are devoid of additives, preservatives, and pesticides. Also, all the brands below are gluten free, and have 150 mg of sodium or less per tablespoon.
“Compared to mayonnaise, ketchup has fewer calories, no fat, and the added benefit of some vitamins, minerals, and even antioxidants,” she says. “And tomatoes are particularly high in vitamin C, potassium, and lycopene.” Lycopene is a carotenoid and antioxidant, which is more bioavailable when the tomato is cooked, making ketchup and tomato sauce a better source of lycopene than a tomato fresh off the vine.
“To ensure you’re choosing the healthiest brand of ketchup, make sure the ingredients list does not include high fructose corn syrup, and that the sweetness is coming from natural or cane sugar,” explains Dickison. Also, note that Gaults, in our list below, is naturally sweetened with veggies. Otherwise, she says, look for a brand with the least amount of sodium and sugar; then, add a little vinegar to make it less thick and less concentrated in sugar and sodium.
Consider These Alternatives
Nutritional yeast—a vegan alternative to parmesan cheese—provides a savory flavor, and is rich in B vitamins.
Hot sauce has a similar sodium count to ketchup, but you would consume much less. Mustard is low in calories and sugar; it provides rich flavor, and the sodium is just 60 mg per tablespoon. Pesto is another great option, but be careful of the calories. Also, you might try skipping the condiment altogether and seasoning your foods with lemon juice or flavorful spices.
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