The Truth About Salt In Your Food

The Salt Puzzle

You can't live without salt: It's essential for human metabolism. And you don't want to: It makes a lot of good food taste better and plays important roles in cooking. But you're being told to cut back, especially if you're one of the 155 million at-risk Americans who are advised to consume just 1,500mg per day to lower the risk of high blood pressure. (The rest of us are allowed 2,300mg, which is about a teaspoon). Banishing salt isn't realistic or even desirable. Lowering salt, though, becomes easier when you know where it lies (naturally, and in processed foods) and how much you're adding in the kitchen. To that end, we decided to try some kitchen and shopping experiments, sending food samples to a lab. How much sodium does your marinade really add?