July 18/Toronto, Ont./Archives of Internal Medicine -- The first study to comprehensively evaluate the amount of salt in various patient menus across three hospitals in Canada found that the vast majority contain excessive sodium levels. Dr Joanne Arcand (University of Toronto) and colleagues report their findings in a research letter published online in Archives of Internal Medicine.
"We found sodium levels, on average, in regular and diabetic patient menus were almost two-times higher than recommended levels," dietician Arcand told heartwire. The results came as a surprise; she said, "It's generally trusted that the food provided to patients is in concordance with healthy eating guidelines. We suspected sodium levels would be high, but not as high as what we observed."