Limiting Salt
By: Gretchen Bolander
Updated: August 16, 2010
It's that big greasy hamburger, or even a bowl of canned soup. "Americans notoriously eat way too much salt. The recommendation is 2300 milligrams a day of salt. In Europe, they drop that down to 2,000 mg." And that's a problem, according to Freeman Cardiologist John Nicholas.
"Everyone needs salt but we take in more salt than our body needs. Salt holds on to the water. If it holds on to water, it holds on to more volume. If we have more volume in our blood stream then our blood pressure goes up." Dr. Nicholas says that impacts a number of serious conditions.
Adds Nicholas, "If we would decrease the salt to the guidelines, we would decrease heart attacks by at least a 100,000. We'd decrease strokes by 60,000. In America, we would decrease deaths by about 90,000." And it isn't just table salt that's the problem. Processed foods are high in salt, so is fast food. Even condiments, like ketchup, have too much. "Most things we put on our food have salt because salt makes it taste better."
Nicholas recommends cooking with alternatives like salt substitute or other spices. Even leaving out the salt curing cooking, but seasoning to taste at the table can help you cut down on your daily total.
"Everyone needs salt but we take in more salt than our body needs. Salt holds on to the water. If it holds on to water, it holds on to more volume. If we have more volume in our blood stream then our blood pressure goes up." Dr. Nicholas says that impacts a number of serious conditions.
Adds Nicholas, "If we would decrease the salt to the guidelines, we would decrease heart attacks by at least a 100,000. We'd decrease strokes by 60,000. In America, we would decrease deaths by about 90,000." And it isn't just table salt that's the problem. Processed foods are high in salt, so is fast food. Even condiments, like ketchup, have too much. "Most things we put on our food have salt because salt makes it taste better."
Nicholas recommends cooking with alternatives like salt substitute or other spices. Even leaving out the salt curing cooking, but seasoning to taste at the table can help you cut down on your daily total.
