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US
Restaurant Chains Criticized For Unhealthy Salt Content Too much salt is linked
to high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease
Americans like to eat out. It's been estimated they go out for a meal or take
out food from a restaurant at least five times a week. But there is growing
concern about the quality of the food they consume. One health group is warning
that some restaurants put dangerously high amounts of salt in the food they
serve. VOA's Melinda Smith has details.
Michael Jacobson is with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a food
safety and nutrition organization in Washington, D.C.
"Salt is probably the single deadliest ingredient in our food supply,
causing tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths a year. And restaurants are a
big part of the problem."
Jacobson says adults with high blood pressure, or who are middle aged or older,
should consume no more than 1500 milligrams of sodium [salt] a day.
Children should consume no more than 1200 milligrams a day.
Jacobson's organization looked at the contents of at least one hundred meals
from 17 American restaurant chains and found that as much as four days' worth
of salt was in some dishes.
A certain amount of salt in food is okay. According to the Mayo Clinic, salt
maintains the right level of fluids in your body,
helps transmit nerve impulses and contract and relax muscles.
But too much salt leads to fluid retention, higher blood pressure, and
cardiovascular and kidney diseases.
Dr. Lawrence Appel of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health says the
elderly
and those sensitive to sodium are vulnerable when the waiter brings the food.
DR. LAWRENCE APPEL, JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
"They consume a massive amount of salt without knowing it. They end up
short of breath and come to the [hospital] emergency room with flagrant
heart failure."
The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the American Medical
Association have called for government limits on the amount of salt in
commercially prepared food.
For now, those who make and serve that food are not required to reveal what
goes into the recipe.
