I love you salt, but you’re
breaking my heart
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The Facts
• The average American takes in more than
3,400 milligrams of sodium each day—more
than twice the ideal amount for heart
health, according to the American Heart
Association.
• Studies link excess sodium intake to the
development of elevated blood pressure,
which increases the risk of heart attacks,
stroke, and kidney disease.
• Of children ages 1-18, 93 percent consume
too much sodium, putting them at risk of
developing heart disease and elevated
blood pressure at an earlier age.
Why Focus on Sodium?
Direct impact on health
• Nine in ten Americans eat more sodium than is recommended
for a healthy diet - sodium is ubiquitous in the environment
and found in many unsuspecting foods at levels that are often
unnecessary
• Consuming too much sodium in the foods we eat is strongly
linked to the development and worsening of high blood
pressure, with increased risk of kidney disease, stroke and
heart disease
• One-third of American adults have high blood pressure, and
about 90% of American adults are expected to develop high
blood pressure in their lifetimes
Source: Lawrence J. Appel, Edward D. Frohlich, John E. Hall, Thomas A. Pearson, Ralph L. Sacco, Douglas R. Seals, Frank M. Sacks, Sidney C. Smith, Jr,
Dorothea K. Vafiadis, and Linda V. Van Horn The Importance of Population-Wide Sodium Reduction as a Means to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease
and Stroke: A Call to Action From the American Heart Association Circulation, Jan 2011; doi:10.1161/CIR.0b013e31820d0793
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Why Focus on Sodium?
Healthcare savings
• If Americans reduced sodium intake to 1,500 mg/day, this could result in
an estimated $26.2 billion in health care savings and improve the quality
of life substantially1
• A national effort that reduces sodium intake by 1,200 mg/day could
reduce health care costs by up to $24 billion per year2
Health disparities
• The prevalence of high blood pressure in African American adults in the
U.S. is 40%, among the highest in the world
• African Americans have almost twice the risk of first-ever stroke
compared with whites
• Hispanics are at an increased risk of hypertension and stroke; sodium
intake is significantly higher in Hispanic infants and toddlers
1. Palar and Sturm. American Journal of Health Promotion: September/October 2009, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 49-57.
2. Bibbins-Domingo et al. New England Journal of Medicine. 2010;362:590-599.
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Why Focus on Sodium?
Developing healthy habits in children
• Establish salt preferences early in life - eating habits formed
today will continue into adulthood
• In the US, nearly 80 percent of 1-3 year olds and more than
90 percent of 4-18 year-olds in the U.S. get too much
sodium1 – and a recent study found that many toddler
foods have too much sodium2
• Kids who have high sodium diets are about 40% more likely
to have elevated blood pressure as kids who have lower
sodium diets3
1.
2.
3.
CDC. 2013. MMWR 62(50). Trends in the Prevalence of Excess Dietary Sodium Intake — United States, 2003–2010.
Joyce Maalouf; Mary E Cogswell; Janelle P Gunn; Robert Merritt (CDC, Atlanta, GA). 2013. EPI/NPAM Abstract P53:
Sodium Content of Commercial Baby and Toddler Foods
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/127/12_MeetingAbstracts/AP253
Rosner et al. Hypertension 2013;62:247-254.
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Average Daily Sodium Consumption
4500
4000
3500
Avg Daily Intake…
3000
2500
2000
The AHA recommends that
Americans should consume
less than 1500 mg of sodium
1500
1000
500
0
Men
Women
From NHANES 2003-2006 -CDC. 2009. Application of lower sodium intake recommendations to adults – United States, 19992006. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 58(11):281-283.
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Dietary Sodium Sources
Mattes, RD, Donnelly, D. Relative contributions of dietary sodium sources. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 1991 Aug;10(4):383-393.
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Why Sodium Reduction?
If the food industry voluntarily reduced sodium by
50% in the top 50 foods contributing to Americans’
sodium intakes, and then reduced sodium by 10%
in all other foods, this could result in 80% of
Americans achieving intermediate sodium intake
goals and 30% achieving ideal sodium intake.
Source: Antman et al., Circulation 2014. Vol 129 (Data supplement)
Introducing:
www.heart.org/sodium
The Salty Six
Explains top
contributors to
sodium in
Americans’ diets
and encourages you
to find lowersodium versions of
these foods
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The Sodium
Swap
Challenge
Encourages you to be
aware of your sodium
intake and take a 3week pledge to swap
lower-sodium
versions to two Salty
Six items per week
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Your Role – Spreading the Word
We encourage you to get involved by:
• Visiting our website,
www.heart.org/sodium
• Signing the pledge to show you’re
ready to reduce your sodium
• Watching the ‘Sneaky Salt’ Video
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR81aziXRfw
• Taking the sodium quiz to test their
sodium knowledge.
• Sharing all of the above actions with
their friends via email and social
networks.
Questions?
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