Americans Eat Too Much Sodium

An editor here once said that restaurants never "over salt" their food; it is simply "seasoned." Well, new research suggests otherwise.

According to the CDC, "About 75 percent of the sodium in the typical American diet is added to commercial foods during processing or during preparation of restaurant foods." The rest is from homecooked meals or additional salt added at the table.

Furthermore, the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey claims that 88.2 percent of people who should have less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day (the average recommended amount), end up going over that limit.

Are people eating too much salt because restaurants add too much salt? Perhaps it's time to take a stab at that umami meat flavor.

The Daily Byte is a regular column dedicated to covering interesting food news and trends across the country. Click here for previous columns.