Too Much Salt Hurting Majority (70%) of Americans

[RedEarth]

Americans already eat way more than the recommended amount of salt, and now the CDC finds that even lower recommendations apply to 70% of us.

New data show that the average U.S. adult consumes one-and-a-half teaspoons of salt every day. That's a half teaspoon more than the basic daily recommendation of one teaspoon (about 2,300 milligrams of sodium).

But the recommendation is much lower for people with high blood pressure, people over 40, and all African-American adults. These groups should be eating no more than two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt (about 1,500 milligrams of sodium) per day.

More than two out of three Americans -- some 145.5 million of us -- are in those categories, the CDC now calculates.

Seven out of 10 U.S. adults get 2.3 times the healthy amount of salt. It's putting us in a world of hurt, says Darwin Labarthe, MD, PhD, director of the CDC's division for heart disease and stroke prevention.

"This is a very important message," Labarthe tells WebMD. "There is no room for debate any longer that a high level of salt causes stroke and heart disease, and that lowering salt intake will diminish these very serious health consequences."

When you eat salt, your blood pressure goes up. And high blood pressure dramatically increases your risk of heart disease and stroke. Recent studies definitively show that people who eat too much salt significantly increase their risk of stroke and heart disease.

...........

Where's all that salt coming from? No, it's neither the salt shaker on the table nor the box of salt next to the stove.

"Most of the salt in our diet comes from processed and manufactured foods," Labarthe says. "Only a small fraction comes from salt added to food at the table or to home cooking."

The American Heart Association says up to 75% of our sodium intake comes from processed foods such as tomato sauce, soup, condiments, canned foods, and prepared mixes.

Salt isn't the only high-sodium chemical in our diet -- there's also baking soda, baking powder, and MSG. And on food labels, you'll see it in a myriad of other ingredients such as disodium phosphate, sodium alginate, sodium benzoate, and so on.

http://www.webmd.com/heart/news/20090326/too-much-salt-hurting-two-thirds-of-americans

Sodium Content in Food

......a few examples of sodium content for a 100 g (3.5 oz) food portion....

Cereals, commercial 700 to 1100
Cereal, Corn grits 1
Cereal, Cornmeal 1
Cereal, Farina, dry 2 (cooked salted or instant 160)
Cereal, Oatmeal, dry 2 (cooked salted 218)
Cereal, Rice flakes 987
Cereal, wheat flakes 1000
Cereal, wheat, puffed 4
Cereal, wheat, shredded 3
Cheese, cheddar 620
Cheese, processed 1189
Cheese, cottage 406
Cheese, cream 296
Cheese, Mozzarella 373
Cheese, Parmesan 1,862
Cheese, Swiss 260

.....scroll down the page for a complete list .....

http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/4059.htm

[virgogal]

1. This is fairly old information but well worth repeating. Thanks.

[RedEarth]

7. The article is from March of this year so it is somewhat old news,

however, I wasn't aware of the CDC recommendation of 1500 mg of sodium/day.

[snagglepuss]

12. Its very helpful you've noted the amounts using teaspoon rather than

mg of sodium.

[tridim]

2. We also don't drink enough water.

I wonder if that number is greater than 70%?

[mahina]

3. My blood pressure is always low, and I crave salt like crazy.

I mean like wild. Salt! yes!

But I'll try to be more careful because nothing is scarier (well nothing health related) to me than having a bad stroke and living for a long time without being able to take care of myself.

Thanks for the information. I actually never knew the stroke connection, even though I'm pretty akamai generally. Or at least I like to think so.

Aloha.

[HuckleB]

4. It's not surprising, of course.

However, it's good to know the details about what it recommended, etc... Good study. Thanks for sharing!

[ginnyinWI]

5. it takes time to cook from scratch, but with practice

it can be done. Not everything takes an hour and a half to cook. I think it's cheaper, but it is definitely healthier.

As someone who routinely avoids salt, unhealthy fats and high fructose corn syrup, I know it can be done. It takes longer but it also tastes better.

[Kolesar]

9. Mrs. Dash to the rescue!

Parseley on anything starch-ely
Garlic, olive oil, and more garlic

[Kolesar]

6. I eat a lot of salt and I don't have high blood pressure

Am I at risk for stroke??

[BadgerKid]

8. I'd like to know the risk, too.

I suspect it's not a problem if your body can handle it. Perhaps it's akin to how like high-protein diets are actually OK if you don't have an underlying kidney problem.

[Kolesar]

10. Strokes kill the men in my family, so maybe salt does matter despite my low BP

This advice is written so preachily, though. It makes me skeptical.

[snagglepuss]

13. Heard the expression, don't kill the messenger? Be happy something

which might be important to your health caught your attention:)

Despite the risk of also sounding preachy, aim to eat at least 4 times the amount of potassium as sodium, not hard to do for instance potatoes have tons of potassium (eat potassium don't take potassium supplements unless prescribed by doctor). All this can be googled.

[BadgerKid]

14. Nah, I wasn't trying to be preachy.

The only "evidence" I had wasn't real evidence but only an analogy. That's why I'm really keen on knowing since I love cottage cheese :)

[cayanne]

11. I have FSGS

I have Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (sclerosis of the kidneys) mostly I make my own soups etc.so I have to watch my salt content as well as potassium. Thank goodness there are some no salt added products out there mostly I make my own soups etc. Food producers need to take notice. Consumers also need to be educated because my grocery stores here stopped stocking low sodium soups because consumers wouldn't buy them. Cheese would be my biggest downfall if I'm not careful.

[RedEarth]

18. You might already be familiar with Donald A Gazzaniga

but if you're not, here is link to his web site. It's pretty amazing how changing his diet, kept him from having to under go heart transplant surgery. Best of luck with your diet.

http://www.megaheart.com/index.html

The Mission
MegaHeart.com is committed to enhancing the quality of life for everyone who has been told by their medical practitioner to "cut the salt out." These include heart patients, liver, kidney, Menieres Syndrome and others wishing to reduce their risk of suffering heart failure — by delivering no salt/lowered sodium recipes. Megaheart will also provide links to reliable resources for information relating to heart failure and other maladies demanding a low sodium lifestyle.
MegaHeart.com donates all proceeds from the sale of The No Salt, Lowest Sodium Cookbook at this website to heart transplant research.




A Message from Chef Don
Hello, I'm MegaHeart.com's founder, Donald A. Gazzaniga. I'm also a CHF heart patient who was told he had less than a year to live when first diagnosed. Few options outside of a transplant were presented to CHF patients at that time.

That could have been a very depressing time, since I barely able to walk, breathe or do much of anything. Dr. Michael Fowler at Stanford Heart Transplant Clinic, encouraged me to try a no salt lifestyle, so I researched into lowered sodium diets. Eleven years ago (1997) I found very little available. Nothing on the Web, a few books titled "Low Salt," which weren't really low sodium and as you can imagine, very few no salt added products in the stores.

Since I had cooked most of my life either in the kitchen at home or on the road including at times for well-known people, and always without salt (More about this at end), I decided to set down my long-time recipes and many new creations. What I hadn't been doing was cooking with low sodium ingredients, a problem that exists for many to this day. Needless to say, I was amazed when I learned how much sodium I had been consuming – and all without adding my own salt.

I learned from Dr. Michael Fowler at Stanford, that it had always been thought that a very low sodium diet would help, but that few had ever really tried it and stuck with it. That latter piece of news was and remains important. We can't eat 500 mg of sodium on Monday and cap off Tuesday with a few thousand. Our new lifestyle is just that: A New Lifestyle.

http://www.megaheart.com/megaheartinfo.html

[RedEarth]

15. To get an idea of the nutritional value of food a Chili's (also Outback and PF Changs)

go to this link(bottom right) and look at the calories, fat and sodium content of their food. An example...Buffalo Chicken Crisper Bites with Bleu Cheese Sandwich without sides....1650 calories, 103 grams of fat and 5370 mg of sodium.... another example....Southwestern Cobb Salad...1080 calories, 71 grams of fat and 2650 mg of sodium.

http://www.chilis.com/menu/

And from Outback Steak House.......

Grilled Chicken on the Barbie & Fresh Seasonal Veggies
Nutritional Facts*
Calories 591.2 cal

Carbohydrates 32.9 g

Dietary Fiber 4.6 g

Total Fat 26.3 g

Saturated Fat 15.2 g

Trans Fat 0.1 g

Protein 55.0 g

Cholesterol 190.1 mg

Sodium 1361.4 mg


PF Changs..........

Almond & Cashew Chicken Lunch Bowl(includes rice and a cup of soup)......

990 calories.......37 grams of fat....4963 mg of sodium

[ginnyinWI]

16. I just looked up the menu at Panera Bread.

You would think it's pretty healthy--but you have to really be careful. I was amazed at the fat grams in everything! And the carbs, and the salt.... I still intend to eat there, but I've written down some of the healthier options for next time.

[RedEarth]

17. It's really amazing how much fat, sugar and sodium is in restaurant food

It's almost to the point, if a person goes out to eat they pretty much have to figure it's not going to be healthy. BTW...David Kessler(you already might be familar with him) has written several articles recently dealing with salt, sugar and fat...here's a link to one......

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/26/AR2009042602711.html