Sodium (commonly found in salt) is the primary culprit when it comes to causing hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Recent studies have shown that no matter how much we try to control the amount of sodium in our diets, we almost always consume too much because companies keep putting copious amounts of it in our food.
In the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report it is stated that "89 percent of U.S. adults were consuming more than the recommended 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day in the years 2009-2012, according to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, or NHANES." That is a very scary statistic.
According to CDC's report, adult males (aged 19 to 51) consumed an average of 4,400 mg of sodium per day while their female counterparts consume less at 3,100 mg a day. However, these amounts are still over the recommended limit. Children also have way too much sodium in their diet. Boys aged 9 to 13 ate roughly 3,300 mg of sodium a day while girls the same age consumed 3,000 mg daily. The recommended daily amount for them is only 2,200 mg of sodium.
"It's very difficult for individuals to lower consumption on their own because there's so much sodium in everything they eat," says Tom Frieden, director of the CDC. He recently talked to NPR to discuss the problem of people's over-intake of sodium in their diets.
Luckily, there is the National Sodium Reduction Initiative. This has been in action over the past couple of years and has been effective to a considerable extent. A number of food manufacturing companies have made commitments to reduce the amount of sodium in their food.
Dan Charles studied Mondelez International's efforts to drop the sodium content in their Ritz crackers and salad dressing. After his observations were complete he deemed it a "giant salt-reduction experiment." Experts suggest the most suggested course of action is still to read the label and be wary of what you eat.
