Popping open a small bag of potato chips with lunch might seem harmless; however, one serving (1 oz.) of Layís Classic Potato Chips will set chip-lovers back 170 mg of sodium ñ- or 7 percent of the recommended 2,300 mg of sodium per day, according to CalorieCount.com.Going ìlightî isnít much better ó one serving of Layís Lightly Salted Potato Chips contains 85 mg of sodium, or 4 percent of the recommended daily sodium serving.In his 2013 article titled, ìThe salt myth ñ- how much sodium should you eat per day?î posted on AuthorityNutrition.com, Kris Gunnars, who started the website, wrote, ìOne-thousand-five hundred mg of sodium amounts to 0.75 teaspoons, or 3.75 grams of salt, per day, while 2,300 mg amounts to one teaspoon, or six grams of salt, per day. Most people today are eating much more than that. The average intake of sodium is about 3,400 mg, most of it coming from processed foods.îPosted at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website is a claim that ìat least 95 percent of the sodiumî in American diets comes from some form of salt.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ìMore than 75 percent of the sodium Americans consume comes from processed and restaurant foods ñ- not the salt shaker.îElizabeth Dunford, a Research Fellow for The George Institute for Global Healthís Food Policy Division and the project coordinator for the Global Food Monitoring Group, and nine others examined salt levels for products offered by ìleading multinational fast food chains.î Dunford and the nine co-authors wrote an article, ìThe variability of reported salt levels in fast foods across six countries: opportunities for salt reduction,î for the ìCanadian Medical Association Journal.î The article was published April 16, 2012.In 2010, Dunford, who has a doctorate in public health, and her team of researchers studied fast-food chains in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Researchers studied seven types of fast-food products from six companies (Burger King, Dominoís Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonaldís, Pizza Hut and Subway). They calculated and compared the results of the average salt contents in these products from each of these countries.Dunford and her team found variability not only in the salt levels among countries, but also in the salt content among different food products.ìThe salads we included in our survey contained 0.5 g (grams) of salt per 100 g, whereas the chicken products we included contained 1.6 g,î according to the study. ìChicken products from the UK contained 1.1 g of salt per 100 g, whereas chicken products from the US contained 1.8 g.ìAlthough the reasons for this variation are not clear, the marked differences in salt content of very similar products suggest that technical reasons are not a primary explanation. In the right regulatory environment, it is likely that fast-food companies could substantially reduce the salt in their products.îIn his May 15, 2013, article posted on slate.com and titled, ìWhy is there so much salt in processed foods?î Brian Palmer wrote, ìCommercial food makers, indisputably, use more salt than we do at home. Ö Some commentators believe that packaged foods have higher salt content because they are otherwise bland, perhaps due to lack of freshness … (but) thereís little evidence that salt-free processed foods would be otherwise flavorless … .îPalmer offered a more meditative theory: ìThe quasi-addictive effect of high salt consumptionî compels people who regularly eat salt to crave it in increasing quantities; therefore, they purchase salty snacks from food companies on a regular basis.Palmer referenced a 2011 study published by Philadelphiaís Monell Chemical Senses Center. The study found that ìbabies who eat salty, starchy foods almost immediately begin to crave salt at higher levels than their salt-naÔve peers.îìPerhaps even more importantly for the processed food industry, people who lower their sodium intake for just two to three months experience a measurable decrease in salt cravings,î Palmer wrote.The CDC recommends in their 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans that people consume fewer than 2,300 mg of sodium a day to maintain a healthy diet.The FDA, CDC and other medical experts have claimed a link between high sodium intake and serious health issues such as high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease.Cardiologist Mark Creager, the immediate past president of the American Heart Association, said in a May 20 article in AHA News, ìTodayís widely-accepted sodium recommendations are based on well-founded scientific research ñ- and thatís what people should understand.îIn recent years, the UK has implemented a national salt reduction campaign, joining more than 50 other countries that have done the same, the AHA reported.Whether the U.S. will follow those countriesí salt-reducing campaigns is yet to be determined; meanwhile, health experts like Dunford advise consumers to carefully read their food labels and be aware of what theyíre putting into their bodies.
