Nutrition 101 - Avoid eating too much salt

"Avoid too much salt," the experts say. We hear this all the time, but how much is too much? In the United States, the average person's consumption of sodium per day is between 3,000 and 4,000 milligrams, well above the ideal.1 According to Louise Light's book, What to Eat, the recommended sodium intake for young people is less than 2,300 milligrams, while the daily sodium intake for middle aged and older people should be no more than 1,500 milligrams.2

If you're thinking you don't need to worry because you hardly use any salt, you might be interested to learn than 77% of our sodium intake comes from packaged and restaurant foods.3 Only 6% of our daily sodium comes from the salt shaker.3 A few examples of restaurant foods high in sodium include the Outback Steakhouse Bloomin' Onion with sauce at 5,510 milligrams, Olive Garden's Chicken Parmigiana and spaghetti at 3,380 milligrams, and P.F. Chang's Kung Pao Chicken and rice at 2,820 milligrams.1

You may have heard that high sodium intake can cause or exacerbate high blood pressure in some people. That is true, but it may also raise the risk of heart attacks, strokes, asthma, kidney stones, osteoporosis, and stomach cancer.3 Some people are not as sensitive to salt as others, but experts recommend we should assume we are sensitive to it.1

How do we cut back on our sodium intake or reduce the effects of the salt we do consume? Reading labels of the packaged foods we buy can help a lot.2 Also, eating more fresh foods, prepared at home, can go a long way to reducing our sodium intake.3 Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and some low-fat dairy products contain very little sodium and provide calcium and potassium which seem to ease the negative effects of sodium on blood pressure.3 Some additional tips from Consumer Reports on Health include:

- Cutting back on canned meat, soups, cold cuts, frozen dinners and pizza.
- Buy products will less than 140 mg of sodium per serving.
- Rinse canned tuna and beans.
- Don't salt cooking water.
- Use herbs and spices in place of sodium.
- Limit the use of high-sodium condiments like soy and barbecue sauce.3

For a delicious salt-free seasoning blend, try Bragg Organic Sprinkle, which contains 24 herbs and spices. You can find this product at http://www.bragg.com/ or in stores such as Whole Foods.

1Liebman, B. April 2010. Shaving salt, saving lives. Nutrition action newsletter. Center for Science in the Pubic Interest.

2Light, L. 2006. What to eat: the ten things you really need to know to eat well and be healthy! McGraw-Hill: New York.

3Consumer Reports on Health. April 2010. Salt: How low should you go? Consumer Reports.