A representative for the Food Products Association asked the American Medical association why they were singling out salt as a health risk to the American public. Predictably, they cited evidence that salt may cause an increased risk of elevated blood pressure and heart disease. But is an increased risk enough to label salt as a danger?
There is no denying that there is a lot of salt in the foods we eat. The recommended daily amount of salt is about 2,400 mg, which is roughly a teaspoonful. Many people consume double that in a day. But the salt that we add to our homemade chicken dinners is not the problem; the greatest source of sodium in our diets is processed food. For example, a Big Mac contains over 1000mg of salt - half the recommended allowance. Unfortunately, because this salt isn't readily apparent to the eater, people don't know its there - and if they are told by their doctor to watch their salt intake, or take to heart the advice from the AMA, they end up watching the wrong places.
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