Using Too Much Salt Is Common in U.S., CDC Says

Report finds that average sodium intake far exceeds recommendations, raising health risks

Posted: March 26, 2009

THURSDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- The average American consumes far more salt each day than is considered healthy, a new government report finds.

Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that people, on average -- including people with high blood pressure, blacks, and middle-age and older adults -- take in 3,436 milligrams a day of sodium. Most of those people -- 69 percent -- should consume no more than 1,500 mg daily, according to the report.

The recommended amount in the government's latest dietary guidelines, published in 2005, for adults in general is less than 2,300 mg (about 1 teaspoon) of sodium a day, still a third less than the average person's consumption.

The findings, which came from an analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, were published in the CDC's March 27 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

"It's important for people to eat less salt," Dr. Darwin R. Labarthe, director of the CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, said in a news release. "People who adopt a heart healthy eating pattern that includes a diet low in sodium and rich in potassium and calcium can improve their blood pressure. Reducing sodium intake can prevent or delay increases in blood pressure for everyone. People need to know their recommended daily sodium limit and take action to reduce sodium intake."

Most of the sodium consumed by Americans comes from packaged, processed and restaurant foods. A diet high in sodium increases the risk of high blood pressure -- a major cause of heart disease and stroke, the first and third leading causes of death, respectively, in the country. About 16 million people in the United States have heart disease, and 5.8 million have had a stroke.

To reduce sodium intake, the CDC recommends that people:

Choose such foods as fresh fruits and vegetables when eating out,
Ask that food be prepared without salt,
Read the nutrition label of foods before purchasing them.

A number of federal agencies are working with major food manufacturers and chain restaurants to reduce sodium levels in food, the CDC said.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute offers advice on how to reduce sodium intake.

Too much salt

It all depends on whether you are sensitive to sodium/salt.
People who are sensitive to salt - and that is the majority of people - DO need to reduce their salt consumption, because they are the people whom it will benefit by lowering their high blood pressure, their high cholesterol, their risk of stroke, heart disease, type 2 diabetes et al. - It will also lower the weight of those who are overweight, because it reduces fluid retention.
If you are NOT sensitive to salt then salt intake makes little difference to your health. - But if YOU personally are not sensitive to salt then you should not be advising others that the lower salt message be ignored, because for other people cutting salt consumption could literally be a life-saver.

Margaret Wilde @ Mar 28, 2009 06:33:24 AM

Our medical establisment must be evaluated

At Congressional hearings yesterday, the Government Accountability Office highlighted the incompetence of our medical establishment in overseeing the approval and conduct of clinical trials (http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090326-711930.html). The same incompetence and lack of objective oversight characterizes their view on salt and health.
Your article quotes Dr. Darwin Labarthe, director of the CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention as saying, "I don't think 'alarming' is too strong" a term for describing a CDC report stating that 70% of Americans should restrict their salt consumption. What your article does not say is that this figure is not the result of any clinical trial, but one that was trumped up by anti-salt advocates in the medical and consumer establishments. If anyone took the trouble to visit the CDC’s website for Age-Adjusted Rates of Death from Heart Disease (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5728a6.htm?s_cid=mm5728a6_e), they would see the actual data regarding the current status of heart disease in this country. Much to everyone's surprise, our heart disease death rates have plummeted steadily from the time the statistics were started in 1969. Why is it that we are now led to believe that we are dying like flies, when the actual data says otherwise?
Lest we forget, it was the medical establishment that recommended hormone replacement therapy for women. What does it take for investigative journalists to start doing their homework and finally start to question the statements coming from our institutions rather than accepting them verbatim? All the great health issues during the past century were resolved through an active and critical public media, not the medical establishment. It will be no different with the salt and health debate. When held under the scrutiny of serious investigation, the public will eventually learn that what the medical establishment is saying is not based upon scientific fact, experimentally derived, but rather the result of activist speculation that does nothing to advance our knowledge of the issue. Let’s hope the journalists get to work before consumers suffer the consequences.
Morton Satin

Morton Satin of MD @ Mar 27, 2009 17:02:46 PM

Using Too Little Ocean Produce Is Common in U.S., Reader Says

In America both nutritionists and doctors have agreed for decades that most Americans are no longer eating enough food from the ocean. In past generations American farmland was known for having enough of the wide variety of necessary trace minerals to support health in most areas. However, since the 1970's agri-business farm lands have had the micro-nutrients depleted, and the American public has not been warned that two servings a week of foods from the oceans are necessary to support normal health. Even sea greens, some of which are very tasty, and sea salt can supply the necessary amounts of micro-nutrients. But until all the people in America have been warned, and until people begin to eat ocean products at least twice a week, our national deficiencies in gold, copper, iodine and more, is apt to continue to grow, as are health costs. Nori seaweed crackers, sea salt, fish and mollusks are a lot more enjoyable and a lot less expensive than doctors and hospitals. Sea salt and ocean food for me!
Coronella Keiper, Rhode Island, March 26, 2009

Coronella Keiper of RI @ Mar 26, 2009 19:14:07 PM

Add Your Thoughts Title Comment 3000 characters left

About You Name Email State

Using Too Much Salt Is Common in U.S., CDC Says

Report finds that average sodium intake far exceeds recommendations, raising health risks

Too much salt

Our medical establisment must be evaluated

Using Too Little Ocean Produce Is Common in U.S., Reader Says

Editors' Picks

Money »

Slideshow: 10 Reasons You Shouldn't Retire

Nation & World »

Photo Gallery: Michelle Obama

Education »

Putting the 'Student' in Student-Athlete

Health »

Getting a Good Night's Sleep:
Find Out How

Autos »

US News Best Cars for the Money: 2010

Health

Using Too Much Salt Is Common in U.S., CDC Says

Report finds that average sodium intake far exceeds recommendations, raising health risks

Related Articles

Too much salt

Our medical establisment must be evaluated

Using Too Little Ocean Produce Is Common in U.S., Reader Says

U.S. News Rankings & Research

Sponsored Poll

What factor do you think is responsible for the majority of teen-driving crashes?

Subscribe

Editors' Picks

Health