For us to try to cut sodium in half distracts us from a greater opportunity to put them on a DASH diet to increase their mineral intake of calcium, potassium and magnesium. Despite aggressive efforts to promote low-salt foods, Americans still eat about as much sodium as they did a century ago, Hanneman says. And while manufacturers do offer low-sodium products, they don't sell very well. Salt not only provides a taste Americans can't seem to overlook, but it adds texture and longevity to foods, he says. Marlene Most-Windhauser, a dietitian at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., who helped design the DASH diet, also says consumers aren't likely to cut their salt intake in half on their own.
Prepared foods are a different story.
That's particularly true for processed meats, such as ham, she says. Although Sacks says low-salt foods might be short on taste, generous spicing, like the recipes used in the DASH diet, more than make up for the missing sodium. Check the Heart Information Network for more on hypertension, or try the American Heart Association . Visit the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute , and read these HealthScout articles on it.