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Fast food high on sodium

Eating fast food meals can pack enough calories, sodium and fat for an entire day, shows a new study.

Fast food high on sodium

Eating fast food meals can pack enough calories, sodium and fat for an entire day.

Eating too much salt is a well-established risk factor for high blood pressure. But it's tough for people to keep their sodium intake under control, especially since more than three quarters of the salt people eat comes from restaurant meals and packaged foods. US guidelines state that adults should consume less than 2,300 mg of sodium daily, and that limit shrinks to 1,500 for those suffering from high blood pressure, and people aged above 40 years.

To examine how much sodium people might be consuming with fast food meals, researchers quizzed people coming out of 167 different New York City fast food chain restaurants about what they'd had for lunch, gathering a total of 6,580 receipts.

Nearly 60 percent of purchases contained more than 1,500 mg of sodium. The US Food and Drug Administration states that 600 mg of sodium per meal is healthy; just 3 percent of the meals met this guideline, while 20 percent contained more than 2,300 mg of sodium. Meals averaged around 2,100 mg of sodium for every 1,000 calories.

The findings show that fast food is packed with excess sodium, which raises the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.
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