Just shake the salt habit

Healthy adults should consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, experts say. Put down that salt shaker and step back from the table.

That's a one-sentence summary of the latest public health alert on sodium intake from health watchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC report concludes that 70 percent of U.S. adults should limit sodium intake — a number far greater than many had expected.

Although guidelines for daily sodium intake were published in 2005, the percentage of people who should be following the lower limit hadn't been figured out yet. Talk about spicing things up.

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend healthy adults consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium (about one teaspoon of salt) per day. A lower limit of 1,500 milligrams per day is recommended for adults with high blood pressure, those over 40 and all African-American adults.

Most of us consume around 4,000 milligrams of sodium a day, so it looks like just about everyone will have to shake some of their salt habit to follow current health advice.

Cutting salt not simple

Fortunately, there are good minds with discriminating taste buds working on lowering sodium content of popular foods — even fast foods.

Chick-fil-A dietitian Jodie Worrell says there's an industrywide movement to trim salt content from menus.

"Sodium removal is a difficult project. Trans-fat removal took two years," she said.

So Worrell's Chick-fil-A product development team is working to find a win-win solution for taste and health. "Taste panels meet every other Monday. For instance, we are looking at ways to add salt topically on fries so you get the salty flavor with less total sodium."

Another challenge for restaurants is that consumer demand for lower-fat foods meant adding flavor with other ingredients such as vinaigrette dressings and spice blends, which are often pretty high in sodium.

If you do choose to limit sodium intake, nutrition labels on packaged foods list sodium content to help you keep track.

Carolyn O'Neil is a r egistered dietitian in Atlanta.