The salt assault
In a bid to protect your heart, you've banished the salt shaker from your dinner table. So now you don't have to worry about your sodium intake, right? Think again. A recent study showed that while Canadian women consume, on average, at least twice as much salt as health experts recommend, only about five per cent of our daily salt intake is sprinkled on at the table.
According to the 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey, we eat, on average, just over 3,000 milligrams of salt a day. That's about 30 per cent over the maximum recommended daily amount (2,300 milligrams per day) and more than twice that recommended by experts: 1,200 to 1,500 milligrams. Worse, we have no idea that we're getting that much salt, because most of it is "hidden" -- in packaged food, in restaurant meals and in fast food.
The salt assault
What exactly is the problem with salt, anyway? Simply put, in excess it's linked to higher blood pressure, which is a major threat to health, and, over time, increased risk for heart and kidney disease and stroke. And that concern doesn't start in adulthood: children who eat a lot of sodium early on are more likely to have elevated blood pressure as they grow up.
Our out-of-control sodium diets, and the huge number of women who suffer from heart attack and stroke each year, are clearly a call for action. Last fall, 17 leading Canadian health groups formed a coalition to urge the federal government to take comprehensive action to slash sodium levels in processed food.
Not only would this action save lives, according to the coalition, but it would also significantly reduce health-care costs. One in three women die of heart disease and stroke -- 36,000 in 2004 -- according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
Click to continue to discover where sneaky salt is hiding...
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