Yes!
According to the World Health Organization, hypertension is the leading risk factor for death in the world and according to Blood Pressure
Excess dietary sodium is said to be the cause of hypertension in at least one million Canadians. In
The average Canadian consumed 3100-3500 mg sodium a day. On average, men consume more sodium than women: 4000 mg/day compared to 2700mg/day (19-30 year olds).
Health
As the Director of the Canadian Stroke Network points out: “if we discovered that a food additive was causing 30% of all cancers, something would be done right away”.
| Age | Sodium Intake per Day (mg) |
| 0-6 months | 120 |
| 7-12 months | 370 |
| 1-3 years | 1000 |
| 4-8 years | 1200 |
| 9-50 years | 1500 |
| 50-70 years | 1300 |
| >70 years | 1200 |
Tips to help you reduce your sodium intake:
- Pay attention to serving size. Sodium numbers on a nutrition label are for the serving indicated!
- Use herbs and spices instead of salt when cooking - try garlic, lemon juice, onion, vinegar and herbs. Remove the salt shaker from the table to break the habit of salting food at the table.
- Limit your intake of processed meats such as bologna, ham, sausage, hot dogs, bacon, deli meats, and smoked salmon.
- Limit your use of salty condiments such as bouillon cubes, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce or bbq sauce.
- Rely less on convenience foods such as canned soups, frozen dinners and packaged rice and pasta mixes.
- Choose lower sodium products.
- Be assertive when dining out. Request that salt not be added and order sauces and dressings on the side so you can control the amount you use.
- Rinse canned food when possible (like canned vegetable, beans, tuna). Research done at
Sources:
Sodium Policy – Blood Pressure Canada & Collaborating Organizations ttp://www.dietitians.ca/news/highlights_positions.asp Oct 25 2007
http://www.lesliebeck.com/page.php?id=2437&type=art
Brody, Jane. The Good Food Book: Living the
5 comments:
hi sybil, good write up. Can you be too low on sodium? If one was to eat plenty of potassium but veryl ittle sodium is that ok?
thanks mike.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the question (and for reading!).
Sodium helps maintain proper fluid balance between water in and around your cells, so you need some sodium- about 1000mg/day. Even if you’re active in hot weather and sweat, it’s possible to get that amount from sodium that naturally occurs in foods.
For the most part, your body adapts to the heat by conserving salt and sweating out more water. When you’re not used to the heat, like that first hot spring day you work out, you’ll sweat more salt than at the end of summer when you’re used to the heat.
Usually if you’re low in salt, your body will crave it.
Adequate sodium balance is necessary for transmitting nerve impulses and proper muscle function. Very active people who restrict sodium intake and lose a significant amount of sodium through sweat are at risk of developing a sodium imbalance and hyponatremia (low sodium in the blood) can develop, especially when the athlete replaces the lost fluid only with water.
People that exercise for more than 4 hours in hot, humid conditions are most at risk- ie. ultra-marathoners, tennis players, long-distance cyclists, triathletes.
The early warning signs are often subtle and may be similar to dehydration: nausea, muscle cramps, disorientation, slurred speech, confusion, and inappropriate behaviour. At this point, many athletes get into trouble by drinking water because they think they are dehydrated. At the most extreme an athlete may experience seizures, coma, or death.
At the first sign of nausea, muscle cramps, disorientation, an athlete should drink a sodium containing sports drink, such as Gatorade, or eat salty foods. If the symptoms are extreme, a medical professional should be seen.
Use a sodium containing sports drinks during long distance, high intensity events, eat salty foods before and during competition/hard and long workout if possible, weigh yourself before and after training and drink enough sodium based sports drink to offset any fluid loss during exercise, increase salt intake several days prior to competition/hard long workout.
Low potassium intake can lead to electrolyte imbalances that could result in muscle cramps. This combined with potassium losses in sweat could lead to a potassium deficiency. However, there’s usually no harm in consuming a potassium-rich diet.
Hope that your question was answered after all this!
Source: Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook. 3rd ed. 2003.
thanks for the info sybil! ~mike
salt anyone: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24313369/?pg=1#TDY_MH_saltiestfoods
mike
This is great Mike- thanks!
Saltiest dish: 7300 mg sodium!
Can you imagine how you must feel after eating that?!
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