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Subscribe to RSSThe Centers for Disease Control said Tuesday on average Americans consume 3,300 mgs of sodium every day, putting people at risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. NBC's Tom Costello reports.
Despite public health messages telling Americans to lower the amount of salt in their diets, most of us still eat too much of the stuff, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nine out of 10 people ages 2 and older in the United States consume more than the recommended amount of sodium each day, the report says, and the leading culprit is not potato chips or popcorn but slices of bread and dinner rolls.
Bread may not have much salt in a single serving, but when eaten several times a day can raise daily salt intake. A single slice of white bread could contain as many as 230 milligrams of salt, according to the CDC.
The average American takes in about 3,300 milligrams of sodium per day — and that's not counting the salt you might shake onto your food before you eat it. The 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend people limit the salt in their diet to 2,300 milligrams per day. And for 6 out of every 10 adults, the recommended limit is substantially lower: those who are 51 years or older, African-American, have high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney diseases are advised to limit their sodium intake to 1,500 milligrams per day. About 99 percent of people in this latter group eat too much salt, the report says.
"Too much sodium raises blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke,” Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said in a statement. "These diseases kill more than 800,000 Americans each year, and contribute an estimated $273 billion in health care costs," he said.
A 2010 report from the CDC, based on surveys from 2005 to 2006, also found that 9 in 10 Americans consume too much salt. However, the average daily sodium intake reported back then was slighly higher, about 3,500 milligrams.
Top sources of sodium
The report identified the top 10 sources of sodium in our diets, which include a lot of food we find tasty. These are, in order: breads and rolls, luncheon meats, pizza, poultry, soups, cheeseburgers and other sandwiches, cheese, pasta dishes, meat dishes such as meat loaf, and snack foods like potato chips and pretzels. These foods account for 44 percent of all the sodium we eat in a day.
About 65 percent of our total daily sodium comes from foods we buy at the store. But within some of the food categories, such as pizza, about 50 percent comes from foods we buy at restaurants and fast food outlets.
For children ages 2 to 19, only about 8 percent of sodium comes from foods obtained from school cafeterias and day care centers, the report says.
The findings are based on surveys of 7,227 Americans conducted between 2007 and 2008.
Cutting back on salt
Cutting back on salt isn't easy, the report acknowledged. Some foods that may seem healthy, such as turkey lunchmeat that is low in calories and fat, may have high levels of sodium, the report said. In addition, a lot of the salt we eat comes from processed foods.
The CDC recommended Americans check food labels to purchase foods with lower sodium content. People should also try to consume a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and limit the amount of processed foods with high sodium content, the CDC says.
Frieden said that some food manufacturers and restaurants are making efforts to lower the amount of salt added to their foods.
"We're encouraged that some food manufacturers are already taking steps to reduce sodium," Frieden said. "Kraft Foods has committed to an average 10 percent reduction of sodium in their products over a two-year period, and dozens of companies have joined a national initiative to reduce sodium. The leading supplier of cheese for pizza, Leprino Foods, is actively working on providing customers and consumers with healthier options," Frieden said.
Lowering the average American's salt intake by 400 milligrams could prevent up to 28,000 deaths, and save $7 billion in health-care costs, each year, according to projections in the report.
However, not all studies have been able to find benefits of a reduced salt diet. A review study published last year that included information from 6,500 people found that moderate reductions in salt in the diet lowered blood pressure, but did not reduce participants' risk of having heart disease or dying. Still, those researchers said that perhaps even greater reductions in salt were needed to see a benefit.
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Reuters wire service contributed to this story.
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We don't eat a lot of bread; in fact, we eat consume very little bread each day, but we started making our own bread to reduce the sugar and salt in bread when we noticed how much sodium and sugars were in pre-made breads and rolls. We also avoid all those containers of biscuits and rolls that you bake yourself because even those had too much sodium.
Hey CDC I will eat what I want when I want too. I will drink what I want when I want too. YOU CAN'T DO @!$%# ABOUT ...................................
Maybe this is more proof that grains and processed stuff is not as necessary in the diet as we once thought. Anyone read or glance at the Paleo Diet or Grain Free Living?
I'm just saying....is it coincidence?
And here I thought the body required a certain amount of salt to function.
Also, just read a different article the other day that said they had discovered that we regulate our salt intake naturally. If our body doesn't need it, we cut back without anyone standing over our shoulder watching us.
So who are you to believe? Funny thing is, I've eaten a lot of salt most of my life. I'm past retirement age and take NO prescriptions. But I work outside all the time gardening and doing other activities. I am finding myself not using as much as I used to so I guess my body isn't requiring as much as I age.
Salt, the current designer Fat maker.
Those that are not unwell taking in a lot of salt need lots less of peon frauds trusting they're lords above everybody.
There are points to know and well understand about what consuming fuels and fosters and needs utilized before claiming overdoses of anything and everything swallowed.
Is suicidal to pretend gains of authority, very delusionally, absent a core sense of the values and uses of eating supper at any time. America is a continent, by the way, not a country. The U.S.A. takes in too much delusionally grand crap.
Tom T- ? What, huh??
"Those that are not unwell taking in a lot of salt need lots less of peon frauds trusting they(are) lords above everybody"- Would you kindly translate that into USA-based English? My English teacher would have had a heart attack based on that sentence alone...the rest of your post isn't any more legible, except for the last two sentences.
By the way, I support both of the last two sentences, both the fact regarding American being the continent (true and factual) and how the USA takes in "too much delusionally grand crap". Wonderful!
You're body craves what you need. I eat plain salt right from the shaker, so does my 11 year old. Guess what? We both have very low blood pressure and both have a problem keeping adequate blood volume. We need that extra salt.
Just a month ago there was an article that said to stop the war on salt. They analyzed studies involving over 6200 people and found that while lowering salt reduced blood pressure, it did not reduce the risks for heart attack, stroke or death.
There have been other articles that show the American Heart Association is based on flawed studies to begin with.
I don't believe anything from the FDA or AHA or any other government agency anymore. Keep it simple, eat as much whole, natural foods a possible and don't over eat. It's that simple.
There is an excess of salt in most prepared, canned food. The only way to avoid it it to cook your own from fresh, and freeze for later use. Before modern day chemical food preservatives, salt was used to preserve food. I wonder if a lot of people died of hypertension in those days?
This issue calls for legislation. Food manufacturers are loading our food with salt and suger and it's killing us, and driving up the cost of healthcare. It almost smells like a conspiracy to keep the doctor's offices full with diabetics and high blood pressure patients. A can of soup with over 1400mgs of sodium is outragous. Americans should demand that all sugar and sodium be removed from their food and let them decide how much of these toxic substances they want. Some will argue it will cost jobs, well so be it. These kind of jobs we don't need and our society will be healtheir for it. I'd like to see a petition get started as soon as possible and am researching areas to make it so.
Got lost in space didn't you?
Madam Michelle Obama and her Gestapo food police will be in our public school next week.
I had a time when I purchased hook, line, and sinker the idea that salt was the root of all evil in my diet, contributing to my blood pressure (when in reality I never had a high bp reading in my life before having pre-eclampsia in my first pregnancy!), and giving me a shortened life expectancy according to an internist I saw soon after my son was born two months early.
I went whole-hog to eliminate every source of sodium I could possibly control in my diet. I went out of my way to eat as little as possible; and after 8 months of eating less than 500 mg of sodium per day (requiring a lot of study and work to find foods to fit that strict requirement)with 6-8 hours of strenuous exercise per day, I went from a size 24 womens to a size 4. My hair was dry and began breaking off in handfuls, my energy began to drain, I was always freezing cold, I was easily confused and easily angered, I began having trouble with my vision and feeling quite ill all the time.
That is my experience. While I don't go out of my way to increase my salt intake, but I'm not sure I'll try to eliminate salt from my diet again.
Well color me surprised. I always thought the biggest source of salt was the pork that's force fed to us from Washington from both predominant parties.
That said, I didn't need the CDC to tell me to eat healthy. I've been doing it for years now, and I read the labels at the store. I also make healthy choices when I eat out. The people who really need to see or hear about this study either don't care or feel like they're in no position to make healthy choices, so I'm not sure why they'd bother releasing nor doing the study.
to the US government and nanny state organizations like the CDC, the first "lady", The AMA, and whom-ever else these titles address, "F" off and go to hell, i dont want you bunch of nazi control freaks in my business. if you leftists believe in freedom of choice, then its my G-Damn choice what i eat and drink.
Can one of you nutritional geniuses point out where in the article it states that Uncle Sam is going to watch and control what you eat? And explain to me how the government wanting manufacturers to stop adding unnecessary and unhealthy substances to our food is an evil plot? And how being made aware of health issues is the root of all evil? No one is taking away your right to eat whatever you want, so next time someone talks about health issues just cover your ears and hum.
No, but there was an article the other day saying the govt should regulate salt just as they do alcohol, drugs and other things.
Somehow I just can't put salt and alcohol in the same category.
Don't forget folk, we are talking about common FAKE salt here, not the real stuff, which is good for you.
Please, oh please, tell me there is no salt in my scotch on the rocks! Booze is exempt from the labeling laws and I really fear that my drink is spiked with NaCl!
I find it strange that the CDC just "discovered" this, something that everyone else was already aware of. We all need to go to CDC and get jobs (nice benefits, etc.) and be years late with their "news".
Hi Allison, On the thread with rick, I got another live wire. Page 11 about halfway down. see ya.
Oh and about the salt thing, I like on just about everything and guess what I have low sodium. Go figger.
The CDC has been to much press lately. They have gone from binge drinking, to smoking in cars, to sugar and now salt. We need to de-fund the CDC completely because we do not have a perfect world and we do not have perfect people that live in this country. So the problem is that these people have nothing better to do but spend our hard earned tax dollars on stuff we already know.
People do not eat "too much salt" or "too much sugar." We eat too much PROCESSED FOOD. Yes, these types of foods contain lots of salt and sugar, but that is not what makes them bad. It is the fact that they are highly processed, reducing natural nutritive value. If we want to be healthier, we need to go back to eating whole foods.
Come on people this means that 90% of the people in this country are wrong for the way they live compared to what the CDC has to say. Including 90% of the people that work for the CDC. There must be nothing but a bunch of children playing on this post tonight. Go do your homework, get a bath and go to bed. Kids today just do not want to grow up.
These people don't have a clue. Lack of salt is more harmful than too much. On top of that these clowns flip flop more than Obama. All these diet researchers use faulty methods of research.
I never add salt to anything. But, I know the foods I love are inherently salty, such as Chinese, Mexican, etc. I have learned to order my fries unsalted though! I know that I still consume too much salt, but I've also watched some very healthy people die young in the last couple of years, so I'm going to enjoy my life in appropriate moderation!
Strange..... I am exactly the opposite. I tend to have slightly low blood pressure sometimes, so my doctor told me to simply INCREASE my salt intake. Wouldn't you like to hear that from your doctor?
Madam Michelle Obama and her Gestapo food police will be in our public school next week.
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I get so many sample stuff for free its awesome. Actually it is not difficult to find them just search online for "Get Official Samples" It is the best way!