Americans Are Still Eating Too Much Salt

According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans are still eating too much salt. The CDC says that 9 in 10 Americans, or 90 percent, consume more sodium than the recommended amount. In the Western diet, most of the sodium we consume comes from the salt. This news is alarming because as everyone should know by now, too much salt in our diets raises our risk for heart disease and leads to potentially life-threatening conditions including high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke. The report says that more than 90 percent of children and 89 percent of adults in the United States consume more than the recommended limits for sodium. This does not include salt added to food at the table, and the statistics do not regard factors such as race, age, gender, or having certain health conditions such as high blood pressure. This means that excess salt consumption was not a problem among a specific group, but among all groups. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans for 2015-2020, people over the age of 14 should consume no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. This is equivalent to one teaspoon of salt. And for those who are younger, they should consume even less. Researchers at the CDC analyzed data regarding how much sodium Americans are eating from the 2009-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), which included over 15,000 people. Not only did they find that consuming too much sodium was a problem...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news