Dr. Thomas A Farley, the Joan H. Tisch Distinquished Fellow in Public Health was featured in the New York Times Sunday Review section with an OpEd on the dangers of hidden salt entitled, “The Public Health Crisis Hiding in Our Food.” Dr. Farley writes:
“If you have high blood pressure, you’re in good company. Hypertension afflicts 67 million Americans, including nearly two-thirds of people over age 60. But it isn’t an inevitable part of the aging process. It’s better to think of it as chronic sodium intoxication. And, as an important new study from Britain shows, there’s a way to prevent the problem — and to save many, many lives.
A lifetime of consuming too much sodium (mostly in the form of sodium chloride, or table salt) raises blood pressure, and high blood pressure kills and disables people by triggering strokes and heart attacks. In the United States, according to best estimates, excess sodium is killing between 40,000 and 90,000 people and running up to $20 billion in medical costs a year.
Americans on average take in about 3,300 milligrams of sodium per day, but experts recommend less than 2,300 milligrams — and less than 1,500 milligrams for people over age 50, black people, or those who already have hypertension, diabetes or kidney disease, which adds up to a majority of American adults. Either target is far below where most Americans are now.”
Read the rest of Dr. Farley’s article here.