A recent study conducted by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) holds packaged and processed foods as the main culprits behind the Americans’ consuming salt in excess of the daily recommended allowance. Almost 80% of the excessive salt intake was attributed to packaged grocery store food. The CDC stated that precisely 77% […]
A recent study conducted by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) holds packaged and processed foods as the main culprits behind the Americans’ consuming salt in excess of the daily recommended allowance. Almost 80% of the excessive salt intake was attributed to packaged grocery store food.
The CDC stated that precisely 77% of the excessive salt consumption was due to restaurant meals, take-out food and other packaged foods which were all found to contain very highly laden with salt. Home cooked meals, with lesser amount of salt, were found to be the lesser devils.
This startling fact came to the fore while the CDC was investigating the main causes of high blood pressure. High salt intake has long been associated with high blood pressure and also many other health related complications because of which public health authorities have been promoting on cutting down its intake in packaged food products over the last few decades.
“Americans consume an average of 3,500 milligrams (mg) of sodium each day (excluding salt added at the table). But the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010, recommend limiting sodium to less than 2,300 mg a day. About six in 10 adults should further limit sodium to 1,500 mg a day,” states CDC in its official report.
The CDC was looking into the possible correlation of geographical location of an individual and chances of likelihood of him suffering from high blood pressure as a part of their effort to find out if the salt content in packaged foods differed based on the area in which they were sold.
The health agency could not find any links between high salt levels and the products manufactured in those areas with higher levels of hypertension than the national average from their present observations.
“Although most of the regional differences found did not have a clear direction or contributor, some may relate to regional variations in the popularity of specific types of products within a food category,” CDC said.
The worst offenders, according to the CDC, were pasta and meat. Both of these were found to contain extremely high levels of sodium, far overstepping the safe levels laid down by the federal body.
“Too much sodium”? That myth was debunked a LONG time ago and still the CDC is pushing it. The government allows food companies to sell processed food, food with artificial sugars, food with preservatives, food with artificial ingredients, extremely high sugar foods, foods with artificial flavorings, and it calls all these things “safe” simply because they don’t kill us immediately….yet it says to keep an eye on the salt? Yeah OK.
This is NEWs? Duh!
True, 77% contain a high level of sodium. Labels on the other 23% are lies.
It’s not a surprise to anyone who reads labels on food packages. I wrote to the company that makes a popular vegetarian burger patty and suggested they make the product with much less sodium. I received a reply that stated that they made the product to appeal to buyer taste. B.S.
We know that nutritionists know how to make food taste good without adding sodium. I no longer buy garden burgers.
SODIUM IS A CHEAP PRESERVATIVE FOR MODERN FOODS! NOTHING WILL CHANGE AS LONG AS WE KEEP EATING WHAT THEY’RE SELLING IN GROCERY STORES.
Please at least let me die eating food that taste like I like it. Do the cardboard thing for future generations. I like pasta and meat. It’s killing me slowly, but I’ll die a happy man. As for the vegans, don’t whine; just don’t do what I do and you’ll be fine.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who has noticed that. It’s so hard to find foods that aren’t pre-salted. I hear that salt is added to enhance the flavor of stale, or possibly spoiled, food by stimulating the receptors in taste buds.
Really. THIS is just being discovered??? Omg. How slow are some people? How long have cans had this info on them???
Makes sense. Go after salt, sugar (depleted with fiber) and replacing animal based to plant-based food and the resultant good health should be a no-brainer.