The New York City Department of Health and other leaders of the National Salt Reduction Initiative announced new guidelines on January 11 that will help food manufacturers and restaurants to limit the amount of salt they put into food.
Did you know...?
•Americans in general eat twice the amount of salt that they should to stay healthy?
•Too much salt can make a person more likely to have high blood pressure (also known as hypertension), which can lead to heart attack and stroke?
•Most of this extra salt we eat doesn't come from the salt added to food; instead almost 80% is in our food before we even buy it.
The Department of Health aims to reduce the amount of salt in 61 categories of packaged food and 25 classes of restaurant food, including cereals and deli meats. In this way, we will not be forced to eat as much salt when we eat out or eat packaged food at home; because of this, some people (who don't have trouble with hypertension, for instance) will be able to add salt to the food they cook without worrying so much about it being bad for their health.
The good news is that many popular packaged and restaurant foods already meet the Department of Health's targets for low salt content. So there is hope that your favorite treats will still taste good even when made with less salt.
And, if you are already a person who mostly eats at home and cooks with fresh, basic ingredients and little salt, using very few processed foods, this new initiative might make it easier for you to find something healthy to eat when you are out on the town.
Who else is working on low salt issues??
While the NYC Department of Health is the leader in this program, many other health organizations and public agencies have also committed to the salt-reduction plan, including the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the California Department of Health, and the New York State Department of Health.
In addition, other countries have already begun to reduce the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant food, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Finland, Ireland, and New Zealand.