cleansing your body 35
and high blood pressure is the most important contributing factor
(accounting for 62 percent of strokes and 49 percent of coronary
heart disease).
While there is no doubt that we need to reduce our sodium
intake, there is no agreement as to by how much. The current (as
of 2005) Dietary Guidelines recommend no more than 2,300 mg of
sodium per day for healthy Americans and no more than 1,500 mg
for those with hypertension and other sodium sensitivities, African
Americans, and people fi fty and older. It is reported that one in
three U.S. adults — an estimated 73.6 million people — has high
blood pressure or hypertension, and an additional 25 to 37 percent
of Americans have prehypertension. As reported in Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report in March 2009, this equates to 69 percent
of the population being at an increased risk for heart disease and
stroke due to having elevated blood pressure.
Since the daily 1,500 - mg sodium restriction applies to the
majority of the population, the American Heart Association and
the American Stroke Association recommend that the 1,500 - mg
limit apply to the entire U.S. population and be refl ected in future
federal guidelines. Although there has been a call to food manufac-
turers and restaurants to reduce the amount of salt added to foods
by 50 percent over the next ten years, sodium intake in the United
States remains high. On the other hand, Great Britain has suc-
ceeded in making multinational giants like McDonald ’ s and Kraft
use less salt in the foods they produce. But considering our country ’ s
track record with enforcing lower - sodium foods from manufactur-
ers and restaurants, and the fact that 77 percent of the sodium in
our diet comes from processed foods and restaurant meals, those
who want to be healthy must take responsibility for it.
Not only is there very strong evidence that our current consump-
tion of salt is the main factor in elevating our blood pressure and
increasing our risk of developing heart disease, strokes, and kid-
ney disease, there is also growing evidence for its correlation with
diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, and stomach cancer. An Australian
study showed that when research participants consumed four test
meals randomly — equal caloric amounts of brown lentils or white