“There can be plenty of sodium — commonly known as salt — in foods that seem to be health-friendly, and shoppers should know that lower-fat foods can have much more sodium than full-fat products. Researchers analyzed 37 common supermarket items and found large amounts of sodium in unexpected places ( a cup of Kellogg’s Raisin Brain cereal contains 350 milligrams of sodium; a half-cup of Friendship 1 percent low-fat cottage cheese has 360 milligrams of sodium).”
The expert of this article is Jamie Hirsh, associate health editor at Consumer Reports and with this article the message that he wants to send is to pay attention at all the products we eat. Many items can have a large amount of sodium even if these products don’t even taste salty. With this article he wants to encourage people to look at labels and to read everything. He is providing this message because a high-sodium diet can increase the risk of high blood pressure and also increase the risk of asthma, kidney stones, osteoporosis and stomach cancer. “A 50 percent reduction in Americans’ dietary sodium intake could save 150,000 lives a year, according to the American Medical Association”. Healthy adults should consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day (the amount in one teaspoon of table salt) but, the average American consumes 2,900 to 4,300 milligrams a day.
I think everyone can benefit from this message and especially people that have high blood pressure. It is really important to eat healthy, to have an adequate diet rich of fruits and vegetables, to do physical activity at least 3 times a week and to avoid drinking and smoking.
We have just one life, for what I know so far, and we should live it as best we can.
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