Food makers pressured to cut sodium (Hearings this week?)

[gatorboy]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071120/ap_on_he_me/healthbeat_too_much_salt

WASHINGTON - Think cooking the perfect Thanksgiving dinner is stressful? Something else is far more likely to raise your blood pressure: salt hidden in all those goodies. Don't blame the chef. Much of that salt was hidden from him or her, too.
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Americans eat nearly two teaspoons of salt daily, more than double what they need for good health — and it's not because of the table salt-shaker. Three-fourths of that sodium comes inside common processed foods like stuffing mix, gravy, and yes, pumpkin pie.

Even raw turkey, which is naturally low in sodium, sometimes is injected with salt water before it reaches the store, a lot more salt than a home cook might sprinkle on. You have to read the brand's fine print to tell.

Now public health specialists are pressuring the Food and Drug Administration to require food makers to cut the sodium. In a hearing set for next week, they will call the government intervention crucial to fighting heart disease.

<snip>

Government guidelines set 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day as the safe upper limit. We don't need that much: The Institute of Medicine says just 1,500 mg a day, a little less for older adults, is enough to regulate the body's fluid balance, the mineral's job. Yet the average American consumes between 3,300 and 4,000 mg of sodium a day.

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I'm so glad this is happening. They're killing us with the amount of sodium in foods these days. And it goes beyond fast foods. You should see the amount of sodium in canned vegetables! Blah!

[DS1]

1. Pick up one of those frozen chicken pot pies in the freezer dept of the supermarket

and prepare to be amazed.

[gatorboy]

2. Tell me about it! Check fastfoods.com

They have the sodium content of most major fast food places (Check Arby's...Good God!). A sinlge KFC pot pie has over 2000mg alone. Even a Subway 6 inch Club has 1200mg.

And don't be fooled by the chicken/fish products. They're advertised to be healthier but generally seem to have more salt content than the beef!

[bananas]

3. Finally!