High blood pressure increases your risk of cardiovascular disease by forcing your heart to work too hard. Following a low-sodium diet is the best way to reduce your blood pressure and help prevent heart disease. The American Heart Association recommends that anyone with high blood pressure should limit sodium intake to no more than 1,500 mg daily.
How Sodium Affects Your Body
It's not salt, but one of the minerals in salt -- sodium -- that impacts your blood pressure. Table salt, or sodium chloride, is about 40 percent sodium. Because sodium attracts water, it can cause swelling and increase fluid levels in your body. When blood volume rises, so does blood pressure. Some foods naturally contain sodium -- your body does need sodium -- not only to regulate fluids, but to help your nervous system function and cause muscle contractions. It's not just people with high blood pressure that need to limit sodium; those with diabetes, kidney disease, people ages 51 and older and African-Americans also need to limit sodium intake to 1,500 mg daily.
Sodium in Your Diet
The majority of sodium in your diet comes from eating out and processed foods -- almost 80 percent, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The natural sodium content in foods contributes about 12 percent and salt added from the salt shaker makes up the smallest percentage of the average American's sodium intake, slightly less than 10 percent. Watch out for hidden sources of sodium, particularly monosodium glutamate and sodium bicarbonate, also called baking soda. Foods do not have to taste salty to be high in sodium.
Sodium and Food Labels
Almost 70 percent of Americans need to limit sodium intake, says the American Heart Association. Because of this, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration created labeling guidelines to help consumers understand the sodium content of packaged foods. Products labeled "sodium free" contain less than 5 mg per serving; "very low sodium" products contain less than 35 mg per serving; and "low sodium" foods have less than 140 mg of sodium per serving. Read the label of anything marked "light sodium" or "reduced sodium" carefully -- "light sodium" means a product has 50 percent less sodium than the original and "reduced sodium" is a 25 percent reduction. For example, 1 tsp. of regular soy sauce has about 1,000 mg of sodium, so the "lite" soy sauce will still have 500 mg of sodium -- one-third of your daily allowance.
Other Ways to Reduce Sodium
You can limit sodium in your diet by cooking at home using fresh ingredients. If you can't always use fresh vegetables, choose frozen foods with no added salt, rather than canned. Salt is often used as a preservative in canned foods. Rinsing canned foods can remove some of the sodium content, but not all. Avoid processed meats such as sausage or cold cuts which use sodium as a flavoring agent and to help kill bacteria. Watch the sodium content of condiments -- soy sauce, salad dressing and sauces may be high in sodium. Season your food with spices and herbs rather than salt.
