Bread to blame for too much salt in American diet: CDC report

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDFeb 7 2012

According to the latest figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this Tuesday, nine out of 10 American adults consume too much salt.

Forty-four percent of salt consumed can be linked to 10 types of foods, CDC said. Experts add that bread may not have much salt in a single serving, but when eaten several times a day can raise daily salt intake. A single slice of white bread could contain as many as 230 milligrams of salt, according to the CDC.

Nearly two-thirds of the salt consumed by Americans is found in store products, 24.8 percent from restaurants and the remainder from other sources such as vending machines and the home salt shaker, the study found. Salt per calorie of food consumed was much higher at restaurants than from store-bought food, the CDC said.

Breads and rolls aren’t really saltier than many of the other foods, but people tend to eat a lot of them, said Mary Cogswell, a CDC senior scientists who co-authored the report. According to the CDC, breads and rolls account for about 7 percent of the salt that the average American eats in a day. Next on the list: cold cuts and cured meats; pizza; fresh and processed poultry; soups; fast-food hamburgers and sandwiches and cheese. Rounding out the list — and accounting for about 3 percent each — are spaghetti and other pasta dishes; meatloaf and other meat dishes and snacks like potato chips and pretzels.

High salt intake can raise blood pressure, which can lead to heart disease and stroke, the CDC said. The average American consumes 3,266 milligrams of salt daily, not counting salt added at the table, which is far above the recommended 2,300 milligrams, the CDC said. For six out of 10 Americans, including those who are over age 51 or have high blood pressure or diabetes, 1,500 milligrams is the recommended daily salt limit.

The new CDC report is based on surveys of more than 7,200 people in 2007 and 2008, including nearly 3,000 children. Participants were surveyed twice, each time answering detailed questions about what they had eaten over the previous day. Researchers then broke down what they ate into categories, and assigned sodium amounts.

“It’s possible to eat a whole bunch of sodium without it seeming salty,” noted John Hayes, an assistant professor of food science at Penn State, who was not involved in the report.

The CDC recommended eating more fruits and vegetables and carefully reading the labels on food products to find those with the lowest salt content. “Heart disease and stroke are leading causes of death in the United States and are largely dependent on the high rate of high blood pressure,” CDC Director Dr. Thomas R. Frieden told reporters in a telephone news conference Tuesday. One in three American adults has high blood pressure, he added. “One of the things that is driving blood pressure up is that most adults in this country eat or drink about twice the amount of sodium as is recommended,” Frieden said. “Most of that extra sodium comes from common grocery store and restaurant items and a very small proportion from the salt shaker at the table.”

Frieden recommended that food producers and restaurants voluntarily reduce the amount of salt in their food. A 25-percent drop in the salt content of the top 10 sodium sources would save 28,000 lives and save $7 billion in health-care costs, each year, he added. It would also give consumers more choice, he said. “People can choose how much food to add at the table,” he said. “They can't take it out once it's there.”

The Grocery Manufacturer's Association said that the food industry has been trying to reduce the salt content of thousands of products while keeping it tasty for consumers. “While progress is being made, reducing sodium in products without affecting the taste or consumer acceptance of products is no easy task,” the industry group said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

“We're encouraged that some food manufacturers are already taking steps to reduce sodium,” Frieden said. “Kraft Foods has committed to an average 10 percent reduction of sodium in their products over a two-year period, and dozens of companies have joined a national initiative to reduce sodium. The leading supplier of cheese for pizza, Leprino Foods, is actively working on providing customers and consumers with healthier options,” Frieden said.