CDC: Food companies put too much sodium in our food

A new study published this week has reported that 89 percent of U.S. adults were consuming more than the recommended amount of daily sodium per day in the years 2009-2012.

According to NPR, the study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and appearing in this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, indicated that 90 percent of U.S. children exceed their daily recommended sodium intake as well.

For adults, the recommended amount of sodium per day is 2,300 mg. Research indicates that men between the ages of 19-51 consumed around 4,400 mg of sodium a day and women generally consumed 3,100 mg a day.

For adults 51 or older, the numbers are slightly lower.

Additionally, boys and girls ages 9-13 consumed around 3,300 mg and 3,000 mg of sodium respectively, far above the recommended 2,200 mg a day.

These numbers might appear alarmingly high, but according to Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, people might not realize how much sodium they are truly consuming. Not only that, it might be in large part out of their control.

“It’s very difficult for individuals to lower consumption on their own, because there’s so much sodium in everything they eat,” said Frieden in an interview with NPR.

In the past few years, several food companies have committed themselves to lowering the sodium content of specific foods through the National Sodium Reduction Initiative. These companies have, in general, managed to meet these sodium reduction goals;

Frieden, however, remains skeptical as to whether or not changes like these are enough.

“Some companies have made significant progress, but across the whole industry we need to see a steady reduction,” he said. “The bottom line is we want to put choice into consumers’ hands about putting it in, since you can’t take it out once it’s in there.”

Date from the Institute of Medicine has indicated that sodium in foods has not changed much in the past decade. Foods like bread, deli meats, pizza, poultry, soups, cheese, pasta dishes, meat mixed dishes and savory snacks like popcorn recommend some of the high-sodium heavy hitters which are contributing to the problem.

Research also shows that when people eat foods without excess levels of sodium, they are still more than happy to eat. “When you take sodium out and offer people the shaker, they put back only a fraction of what was taken out; you often can’t really tell,” said Tom Frieden.