It is well known that there are convincing evidences that sodium intake correlates with blood pressure. 1500 mg is the advised intake per day for persons who have high blood pressure. 1300 mg/day for persons 50 to 70 years old and 1200 mg/day for those above 70 years and old are recommended. For all the others a maximum of 2300 mg/day is the right amount. Many take in our world more sodium than they have to take. Many ask me we use very carefully salt and where the possibility to cut more is. The processed foods contain more sodium than we think. Almost many of the sweets have more salt than you think.

In many countries we do not know how much salt is there in the processed food and there are no data available. On the other hand you must know that all the processed food has salt in high amount. Are we addicted to salt or are the food companies responsible? Both are right. If we could reduce the amount of salt intake hundreds of thousands of deaths can be avoided every year in our world that occurs because of heart diseases and high blood pressure.

We see some of the examples from USA here and they include:

• White bread .....................................130 to 230 mg sodium per slice
• Spaghetti rings .................................850 to 1070 mg sodium per cup
• Spaghetti sauce .................................310 to 770 mg per half-cup
• Tomato soup .....................................380 to 1900 mg per cup
• Soy sauce .......................................920 to 1260 mg per tablespoon
• Cheese ..........................................270 to 390 mg per slice
• Cheese pizza ....................................1080 to 2340 mg per pizza
• Pepperoni pizza .................................1740 to 2700 mg per piece
• French fries ....................................220 to 640 mg, medium size
• Fried chicken dinners ...........................1010 mg to 2160 mg per pack
• Potato chips ....................................160 mg to 370 mg per ounce
• Breakfast sandwiches ............................730 mg to 1290 mg
• Chicken nuggets .................................450 to 1590 mg
• Caesar salad with grilled chicken ...............1320 to 1610 mg

All the sweets, cakes, biscuits and others have high amount of sugar. We see few examples here and they include:

• Corn flakes .....................................1170 mg per 100 g
• Fruit cake ......................................250 mg per 100 g
• Cake, plain .....................................380 mg per 100 g
• Fruit pie .......................................210 mg per 100 g
• Jam tart ........................................230 mg per 100 g
• Muesli ..........................................270 mg per 100 g
• Margarine .......................................840 mg per 100 g
• Bacon, rashers, fried ...........................1870 mg per 100 g
• Ham canned ......................................1250 mg per 100 g
• Luncheon meant, canned ..........................1050 mg per 100 g
• Salami, slices ..................................1850 mg per 100 g
• Cheese, camembert ...............................1410 mg per 100 g
• Danish blue .....................................1420 mg per 100 g
• Parmesan .........................................760 mg per 100 g

Processed foods throughout the world contain too much sodium.

Think of the salted fish or salted dry meat or the different pickles used in Asia or the spices. These have also excess salt and thus sodium.

We need sodium and without sodium we cannot live. But, the dose makes the poison. Cook your food freshly or take lot of fruits and vegetables. Raw food is also very good; this is a best reason to eat salad every day.

Teach your children from the beginning that too much of sodium is bad for health. Once they come in contact with the taste of sodium, they can become addict to salt.