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Salt: An Overview
As a nation, we're making dangerous choices. Every day we choose between
convenience and our health – even our very lives.
It may seem unbelievable, but it is indeed true. Increasingly, we rely on
processed foods for the mainstay of our meals. But who can blame us? It's a
proverbial jungle out there! Between the rigors of work, the hectic schedule
of our family lives there's precious little time for anything else. Who wants
to take the time to cook a full-fledged meal? It's all we can do to just get
through the day in one piece. Anything we can do to make our lives even a
little easier is well worth it.
But, what if you were told that the amount of salt the average American uses in
one day is nearly twice the maximum recommended limit? And, what if you knew
that an organization like The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the
ultimate dangers of excessive salt. In fact, the WHO is so concerned about the
level of salt intake that it believes a global effort toward salt reduction is
needed.
And what if, on top of all of this, you knew that excessive salt intake
accounts for nearly half of all the fatal strokes – and half of the heart
attacks – worldwide?
All three of these "what ifs" is true.
In this country alone, the average resident consumes the equivalent of almost
two teaspoons of salt every day. That's twice the maximum recommended
limit.
The sad part is, you probably aren't even aware that you're eating that much
salt. You could easily ingest that much salt and not even pick up a salt
shaker and add it to your popcorn, French fries or your chicken in order to
eat this amount. Most of the salt we eat is hidden salt. It's found in many of
the processed foods we use daily. Salt is found in everything from canned
soups to spaghetti sauce to frozen dinners.
We reach for these foods specifically because they're convenient. But, the
price we pay for that convenience is appearing extremely high. The link
between salt and heart disease is intimate and very disturbing.
WHO acknowledges that that cardiovascular disease is the biggest cause of
death worldwide, killing nearly 13 million people yearly. Additionally,
elevated blood pressure is the single largest cause of cardiovascular disease.
High blood pressure is responsible for 62 percent of the cases of strokes and
nearly 50 percent of the heart disease cases globally.
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