October 20/Dallas/GlobeNewswire -- Americans are eating too much sodium, and the American Heart Association believes the country needs to increase its public health efforts to encourage the public and private sectors of the food industry to reduce sodium in the food supply, a point emphasized in a report issued from the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Currently, more than 75% of the sodium we consume comes from packaged or prepared foods, and sodium levels are high in many restaurant foods. Statistics presented in the CDC report underscore the urgency of reducing sodium in the U.S. food supply. Experts agree that people in certain population groups, such as those who either have high blood pressure or who are at high risk of developing it, should aim for a sodium target of less than 1500mg a day. Some 98% of the people in the highest-risk groups, which include African-Americans, older adults (51+) and persons with hypertension, diabetes, or chronic disease, are not achieving that goal.