Report: Americans eat too much salt

ATLANTA, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Americans eat too much salt, increasing their risk of high blood pressure and subsequent heart disease and stroke, U.S. health officials say.

A report published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report said 100 percent of non-Hispanic blacks, 44 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 23 percent of Mexican-Americans age 2 and older were advised to limit their sodium intake to 1,500 mg daily.

"Among the U.S. population age 2 and older in 2005 to 2008, an estimated 47.6 percent of the population met the criteria to limit sodium intake to 1,500 mg daily," the report said. "Although this proportion differed by sex, that difference was not statistically significant after adjusting for age and race/ethnicity. The proportion of the population with a 1,500 mg daily recommendation was higher among adults -- 57.1 percent -- than among children at 16.2 percent."

Among those age 2 and older who were told to limit salt to 1,500 mg daily recommendation, 98.6 percent consumed more than 1,500 mg sodium on a usual daily basis, including 99.4 percent of those age 18 and older.

Among those with a sodium recommendation of less than 2,300 mg daily, 88.2 percent consumed more than 2,300 mg on a usual daily basis, including 95 percent of those age 18 and older, the report said.