Americans Should Shake Salty Food Habit

Heatlh experts warn Americans away from consuming too much salty food, which can lead to high blood pressure. (AP Photo/Larry Crowe, File) (Larry Crowe - AP)

-- When it comes to seasoning food, there's no shortage of salt options.

But when it comes to health, it doesn't matter if it was mined in Kansas, solar-evaporated from the Mediterranean Sea or hand-harvested in French marshes. Salt is salt, the experts say, and it's bad for your health. Chances are you're eating way too much of it.

If you think setting down the shaker will make a difference, take that advice with a grain of salt. Most salt comes from processed foods and restaurants.

Here's what's known. For good health, most people need less than a quarter-teaspoon a day of salt _ a natural mineral known as sodium chloride. Of course, except for medically supervised diets, it's almost impossible to consume that little.

In fact, many foods exceed that amount per serving. Most Americans consume as much as 2 teaspoons of salt a day, far above the recommended half-teaspoon for healthy adults, according to the Institute of Medicine.

That's a serious problem. Though the mechanism behind it isn't fully understood, high-salt diets can cause high blood pressure, a risk factor for heart and kidney disease and stroke.

"This is the equivalent of a jumbo jet with 400 people on it crashing every day," says Dr. Stephen Havas, vice president of public health for the American Medical Association. He says if Americans cut their salt use in half, 150,000 lives a year could be saved.

Don't think that having normal blood pressure exempts you. Because blood pressure naturally rises with age, people become increasingly susceptible to salt's ill effects. Many researchers also think salt has a cumulative effect, triggering problems after years of overuse.

The good news is that much of the damage is reversible simply by cutting back on salt. The bad news?

"Reducing your salt doesn't necessarily reduce your blood pressure to normal," says Dr. Jeffrey Cutler, senior adviser at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. "If you have hypertension, most likely you will need some medication."

So what should you do about it? Start by understanding the source of the salt.

Health officials aren't concerned about the dash in your pasta cooking water or the sprinkle on your scrambled eggs. Salt added at the table or during cooking accounts for less than a quarter of the sodium in the American diet.