We all need some sodium but most of us eat about 3400 mg of sodium per day.
This is more than double the amount we need for good health.
Eating too much sodium can cause high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and kidney disease. Healthy adults need only 1500 mg of sodium per day. Healthy children need only 1000-1500 mg of sodium per day. Most foods we eat contain too much sodium.
Sodium 101:
- Sodium is found in salt.
- All types of salt have high sodium.
- It's the sodium in salt that can be harmful to our health.
Learn From The Label
If you buy pre-packaged food you will see that each package has been labelled with a Nutrition Facts table. Nutrition labels contain important information about the nutritional content of food. Most high sodium foods are those that are pre-packaged.