No. 1 Source of Salt in Our Diet Isn't Chips ... It's Bread

On list of top sodium sources, salty junk food comes in a distant No. 10
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 8, 2012 8:47 AM CST
No. 1 Source of Salt in Our Diet Isn't Chips ... It's Bread
This photo illustration shows a salt shaker in a plate with a sandwich and potato chips in Miami on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012.   (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, J Pat Carter)

If you had to bet $5 on whether more salt in your diet came from bread or chips, you'd probably be out five bucks. Potato chips, pretzels, and popcorn actually rank a distant No. 10 on the CDC's list of the top 10 sources of sodium, released yesterday. Bread and rolls claimed the top spot, with the CDC revealing that they account for more than twice as much sodium as salty junk food—about 7% of the salt that the average American eats in a day. And while it's recommended that we ingest only 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day, the CDC report notes that we consume around 3,300 milligrams.

It's not that bread and rolls contains mounds of salt we didn't know about—it's just that we tend to eat a lot of them, explains the report's co-author. The AP notes that even CDC officials were in for a surprise: They learned that the top 10 make up 44% of the sodium we consume on average daily. The rest of the list:

  1. cold cuts and cured meats
  2. pizza
  3. fresh and processed poultry
  4. soups
  5. fast-food hamburgers and sandwiches
  6. cheese
  7. spaghetti and other pasta dishes
  8. meatloaf and other meat dishes
  9. snacks like potato chips and pretzels
(More CDC stories.)

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