According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, too much sodium contributes to high blood pressure, which can lead to strokes and heart attacks. / A.M. Costa Rica wire services photo
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Foods prepared in restaurants may contain
a high risk of sodium, study says
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Costa Rican Institute of Research and Education in Nutrition and Health randomly analyzed the sodium content of foods sold in restaurants, fast food places, and even street foods and concluded that most foods presented high content of sodium, more than 480 milligrams per serving.
Most sodium comes from table salt, which is sodium chloride.
According to the laboratory study, the products were selected because of their high consumption in Costa Ricans. Researchers analyzed 20 types of different foods: seven street foods, seven foods in restaurants and six fast foods.
Most of the foods prepared in restaurants (57 percent) had a high sodium content, the study said. Among the foods with high content were salty bread with cheese, tortillas with cheese, stuffed sweet bread and hamburgers.
Some 86 percent of food sold on the street presented a high sodium content. The most products sold in these places are fried chicken, mixed nachos and cheeseburger.
In the fast food meals, 50 percent presented an average content of sodium. Among these foods that are sold on the street are cheese products, meat, and corn dough.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, too much sodium contributes to high blood pressure, which can lead to strokes and heart attacks.
The federal agency said that city people now consume on average about 3,400 milligrams of sodium each day, while federal guidelines recommend less than 2,300 milligrams for the general population. Reducing sodium in foods will prevent hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and illnesses over a decade, the agency said in its statement.
The totality of evidence, as reviewed by many scientific organizations, continues to support lowering sodium from current levels. For example, a 2013 report by the non-profit Institute of Medicine on the United States concluded, after reviewing the latest scientific literature, that evidence supports efforts to lower excessive dietary sodium.
The 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recently considered the 2013 report and other evidence to say that sodium intakes should be less than 2,300 milligrams per day. Recent studies have investigated the direct relationship between sodium intake and heart disease, and there is controversy about some findings from observational studies. The limitations of some of these studies have been reviewed and critiqued. For example, in some studies, the method used to assess sodium intake was a single morning spot urine sample rather than multiple 24-hour urine samples over time. This was considered was a limitation that may have affected the results.
One in three adults has high blood pressure, and you are more likely to have high blood pressure as you get older, said the Food and Drug Administration. This tendency for blood pressure to rise with age is seen mostly in western countries where sodium intakes are high, it added, noting that Children and adolescents are also likely to have increased blood pressure with higher sodium intakes, and studies suggest that the preference for sodium is affected by early life.
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Should the Health Ministry make more efforts to reduce sodium in foods at restaurants? We would like to know your
thoughts on this story. Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com
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