Salt tastes good. It makes bland things taste less bland. But apparently, we the people of these United States of America have been salting our bland food a little too heavily. A new report says that almost every single one of us is consuming too much salt.

In fact, says the Centers for Disease Control, most Americans are consuming double the recommended daily allowance of salt. And around 77% of it comes from processed foods and restaurant foods.

Says a CDC rep, complete with lab coat and clipboard:

Sodium has become so pervasive in our food supply that it’s difficult for the vast majority of Americans to stay within recommended limits… Public health professionals, together with food manufacturers, retailers and healthcare providers, must take action now to help support people’s efforts to reduce their sodium consumption.

2005 dietary guidelines pegged the maximum recommended daily intake of sodium at 2,300 mg. This year, they’d like to trim that down to 1,500 mg/day. Regardless, the CDC’s study shows most of us are taking in around 3,466 mg of sodium each day.

According to the CDC, the biggest culprits are grain-based foods, which account for 36.9 % of our daily intake of sodium. Next on the list are meat, chicken and fish, which account for 27.9%.

Many of the country’s largest food producers are at least paying lip service to cutting down the amount of sodium in their products. The folks at PepsiCo have created a designer salt that requires less sodium to deliver the same amount of salt taste. They are currently producing small batches of the salt for future use on their Lay’s brand potato chips.

Nine in 10 Americans eat too much salt: CDC [Reuters]

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