Daily Sodium Intake

One of the vital nutrients that helps balance the fluids and electrolytes in our bodies is sodium, which can be found in ordinary table salt. However, too much sodium in our diet can result to high-blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks or strokes. That is why a low sodium diet lies at the core of lowering high blood pressure or maintaining it a healthy level. While the recommendation for the average person who has no outstanding health risk is to consume less than 2400 milligrams of sodium per day, the daily sodium intake of most people is about two to three times that amount.

Surprisingly, the culprit for such high an amount of sodium in the food that we eat is not the common table salt that we sprinkle in our cooking pot or food plate. Most nutritional experts point out that 75 percent of our total daily sodium intake comes instead from canned and processed foodstuff as well as in prepared meals and fast foods.

Because of its ability to modify flavor, bind ingredients, enhance color and inhibit the growth of pathogens in processed foods, sodium invariably becomes an indispensable ingredient in food processing. Processed foods such as luncheon meats, hotdogs, and cheese products and in condiments like mustard, bouillon cubes, tomato sauce, mayonnaise, pickles and salad dressings contain the highest amount of salt, which is the most common form of sodium. As a result, over time, we acquire a taste for a bit of that saltiness—making us think that without a dash of salt, food is flavorless. And so, fast food chains and restaurants make it a point to add sodium to their products to make them tastier.

While the importance of sodium to our health is recognized, only a miniscule amount of it is actually needed in our diet. On the average, the daily sodium intake of most Americans is about 3400 mg, putting them at risk to high blood pressure, which can have serious health implications. To effectively prevent or lower high blood pressure, medical experts recommend that daily sodium intake should be cut down to about a half teaspoon of salt or roughly equivalent to 1,500 mg.

Carefully choosing what we eat by avoiding sodium packed foodstuff is one way to cut down on our daily sodium intake. Start by reading the nutrition facts label on the label of each packaged foodstuff and look for the word “sodium” or its chemical symbol “Na” before you purchase them off the shelf. When eating out, it would also be a healthy habit to ask that the food that you order should have no salt in it.