79 percent in N.Y. consume too much salt

NEW YORK, March 18 (UPI) -- A health department study finds the current sodium intake for New York City adults is alarmingly high, health officials say.

Preliminary study results show an average New Yorker consumes 3,150 mg of sodium per day -- twice the recommended limit for most adults and in line with previous national estimates -- and of all adult New Yorkers, only 1 in 5 consume their recommended limit or less.

The study establishes a baseline measurement of salt intake among New Yorkers. Sixty-one percent of New York City adults -- those age 51 and older, blacks and people with hypertension, diabetes or chronic kidney disease -- should consume less than 1,500 mg of sodium per day.

However, only 11 percent of these high-risk New Yorkers are at or below the 1,500 mg limit, the study found. Other New Yorkers should consume less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day, health officials say.

Reducing salt intake lowers blood pressure, a major preventable risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Only 11 percent of the sodium in our diets comes from our own saltshakers or is added during home cooking; nearly 80 percent is added to foods before they are sold, officials say.

"High blood pressure is a predictable result of current sodium levels in the American food supply," Dr. Thomas Farley, New York City health commissioner, says in a statement. "Diets high in sodium, taken over lifetimes, are fueling widespread hypertension, causing tens of thousands of preventable deaths."