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Health Information
Salt Costs $18 billion in Medical Bills Yearly
Cut sodium consumption and reduce risks
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Too Much Salt Adds $18 Billion
to Medical Bills
The health price tag of Americans' craving for salt totals $18 billion a year, according to a new report from RAND Health. That's how much medical spending - plus thousands of lives - that could be saved if Americans cut their sodium consumption to recommended levels, leading to lower rates of hypertension, cardiovascular disease and stroke. The study calculated that cutting sodium intake from dietary salt could prevent 11 million cases of high blood pressure alone, saving $55 billion annually in medical bills. The Institute of Medicine recommends consuming no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium daily - about the amount in one teaspoon of table salt. But Americans actually average more like 4,000 milligrams of sodium each day, with about 70% of that coming from processed food rather than the salt shaker. Experts expect the RAND report to ratchet up the pressure on food manufacturers and packagers to reduce sodium content.
Reduce sodium, boost potassium to combat heart disease - here's why.
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