Bread, Pizza, Everything Else You Eat Has Too Much Salt, Says CDC

Salt, a tasty killer? The CDC's VitalSigns today has a new report this month that warns Americans that 90% of us are eating too much sodium in our diet—and the number one source of that sodium, as they say on the 10 o'clock news shows, might surprise you. That's because the answer is bread. Yup, the lowly loaf you bought last night is currently sitting in your kitchen, plotting your demise.

To be fair, too much sodium is arguably a serious problem. It increases your risk for high blood pressure, which in turn can lead to heart disease and stroke. As the CDC points out, "More than 800,000 people die each year from heart disease, stroke and other vascular diseases, costing the nation $273 billion health care dollars in 2010."

So what's to be done? Well, like most health advice these days, your best bet is to cut out or cut down on processed foods (that includes that chicken that was juiced up on sodium). It is probably worth noting that, according to the CDC, "more than 40% of sodium comes from the following batch 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, meat- mixed dishes such as meat loaf with tomato sauce, and snacks such as chips, pretzels, and popcorn." (note that "pasta dishes" doesn't include Mac 'N Cheese, as they list that dish as its own category. Really). Which, sadly, sounds pretty much like they looked at our regular diet and just wrote it down.

According to studies the average American eats about 3,300 mg of sodium a day, which is way above the recommended 2,300 mg a day. And if you are above 51, black, or have high-blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease you shouldn't be eating even that much. Those people are recommended to consume just 1,500 mg a day. For some tips on how to cut some sodium out of your life (which, considering how omnipresent it is, can be quite tricky!) you can head over here.

Of course, not everyone agrees on the sodium problem. Recent reports have found that a low-salt diet might not help prevent heart disease. So for now the health nazis are going to have to rip the bread from our hands if they want it so bad—at which point we promise to make them a delicious panzanella salad!

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in Food on February 8, 2012 12:34 PM

Comments [rss]

RobertMosesSupposesErroneously

The sodium menace is a paper tiger. For healthy young people, study after study has been unable to show ANY correlation between salt intake and morbidity.

"Seven studies were identified, all showed no strong evidence of any effect of salt reduction CVD morbidity in people with normal blood pressure, and those with raised blood pressure at baseline also showed no strong evidence of benefit. Salt restriction increased the risk of all-cause mortality in those with heart failure, and we found no information on participant's health-related quality of life."

-American Journal of Hypertension 24, 843-853 (August 2011)

J3an_Luc_Picard

i read the labels on everything, know what you ingest

lisahuffz

Just found that "Get Official Samples" is promoting a wide variety of major brands by providing free samples. You’ll have to fill in your zip code to see if you can qualify to receive them. You can get all samples from one place. I think it is available for most of the zip codes and it worked for me.

Peanut_Butter

You tricked me! I thought Salt 2 was coming out! Rats!

Problem with sodium is I don't know a milligram from a millipede. I know I should at less but how do I know how much salt is in food?

D.B

Duh !

Man_NYC

Sweat more and salt wouldn't be a big issue.
Exercise more and sugars & corn syrup wouldn't be a big issue.

You don't have to be an Olympic athlete but try not eating like one.

based shaw

Pfft. Sodium only matters to obese chain smoking couch potatoes. Salt is awesome.

matteus

But salt is soooo good. I throw a little extra on everything.

JoshNY

Well of course more than 40% of sodium comes from those foods; they've encompassed 40% of food with that list.

RobertMosesSupposesErroneously

Exactly!

Also, did you know that a quarter of your life is spent living between the hours of noon and 6 PM?!

EdwardAmame

CDC will get big headlines with the bread scoop. And that will give everyone an excuse to ignore their study. Just looked up a recipe online for making a french baguette. For every 2 1/2 cups bread flour, 1 teaspoon salt is called for. Wolfgang Puck's pizza dough calls for 3 cups all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon kosher salt.

The amount of salt in bread wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the processed lunch meats that go with it, the pile of potato chips on the side, the bag of pretzels snack later on and salty canned soup with whatever pre-processed/packaged crap you're having for dinner tonite.

Mordicai

If only there were some way to have a regulatory body that kept corporations for putting dangerous chemicals in our food. Ah well, my nanny state dreams must make me a commie.