About 90 percent of Americans eat more sodium than is recommended for a healthy diet.
Why is this a problem?
Too much sodium increases a person’s risk for high blood pressure. High blood pressure often leads to heart disease and stroke. More than 800,000 people die each year from heart disease, stroke, and other vascular diseases, costing the nation $273 billion in health care dollars in 2010.
Note: The words salt and sodium are sometimes used interchangeably because most of the sodium we eat is in the form of salt (sodium chloride). Some salts don’t contain sodium.
Where does all this sodium come from?
Most of the sodium we eat comes from processed foods and restaurant meals. Sodium is already part of processed foods and cannot be removed.
However, manufacturers and restaurants can produce foods with less sodium. In addition, you can select lower-sodium foods when possible, and you can cook more foods yourself to better control how much sodium you eat.
Types of foods matter: More than 40 percent of sodium comes from the following 10 types of foods:
- Breads and rolls
- Cold cuts and cured meats such as deli or packaged ham, or turkey
- Pizza
- Fresh and processed poultry
- Soups
- Sandwiches such as cheeseburgers
- Cheese
- Pasta dishes
- Mixed meat dishes such as meatloaf with tomato sauce
- Snacks such as chips, pretzels, and popcorn.
Sources of foods matter: About 65 percent of the sodium we eat comes from food bought at retail stores, so look for lower-sodium choices. About 25 percent comes from restaurants, and it can be hard to tell how much sodium is in restaurant foods.
Food brands matter: Different brands of the same foods may have different sodium levels. For example, sodium in chicken noodle soup can vary by as much as 840 milligrams (mg) per serving.
RELATED: 6 Things That Happen to Your Body When You Consume Too Much Salt
Eating Less Sodium is a Challenge
- Americans eat about 3,300 mg of sodium a day on average. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend limiting sodium to less than 2,300 mg a day, and about six in 10 adults should further limit sodium to 1,500 mg a day.
- Foods that otherwise seem healthy may still have high sodium levels (e.g., cottage cheese and turkey breast luncheon meat).
- Sodium is already part of processed foods and cannot be removed.
- Sodium is included in surprising ways. For example, much of the raw chicken and pork bought from a store has been injected with a sodium solution.
- Too many restaurant foods are high in sodium.
- Some foods that you eat several times a day, such as bread, add up to a lot of sodium even though each serving is not high in sodium.
People who should limit their sodium to 1,500 mg a day are:
- People who are 51 years or older
- Black Americans
- People with high blood pressure
- People with diabetes
- People with chronic kidney disease
What Can Be Done
Everyone can:
- Choose healthy options and talk with your grocer or favorite restaurant about stocking lower-sodium choices.
- Read the Nutrition Facts label while shopping to find the lowest sodium options of your favorite foods.
- Eat a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables and frozen fruits and vegetables without sauce.
- Limit processed foods high in sodium.
- When eating out, ask for lower-sodium options.
- Support initiatives that reduce sodium in cafeteria and vending machine foods.
Places that produce, sell, or serve food can:
- Consider joining voluntary initiatives to reduce sodium such as the National Salt Reduction Initiative
- Give choices to consumers to help them reduce sodium in their diet by:
- Stock lower sodium foods.
- Ask food manufacturers to provide lower sodium foods.
- Make phased reductions in the amount of sodium they add to foods they sell or serve.
- Limit sodium in food products.
- Provide information about sodium in foods.
The federal government is:
- Encouraging agencies and departments to adopt HHS/GSA or similar procurement guidelines that define how much sodium can be in products sold or served in their facilities.
- Improving data collection on sodium, including how much sodium people consume and their knowledge, behaviors, and health outcomes.
State and local health departments can:
- Increase public awareness about the amount of sodium added to processed and packaged foods.
- Increase public awareness of the health outcomes of a high-sodium diet.
- Help reduce sodium in people’s diets.
- Encourage reductions in the amount of sodium in foods purchased in cafeterias and vending machines.
Check the Nutrition Facts label, which lists sodium content per serving. For help reading labels, click here.