A recent study done by the CDC shows that 70% of Americans need to decrease their salt intake. The data showed that the average U.S. adult consumes one-and-a-half teaspoons of salt every day. That’s a half teaspoon more than the basic daily recommendation of one teaspoon. This recommendation is much lower for people with high blood pressure, people over 40, and all African-American adults. These groups should be eating no more than two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt per day.

More than two out of three Americans are in those categories, the CDC now calculates. Seven out of 10 U.S. adults get 2.3 times the healthy amount of salt. It’s putting us in a world of hurt, says Darwin Labarthe, MD, PhD, director of the CDC’s division for heart disease and stroke prevention.

When you eat salt, your blood pressure goes up. And high blood pressure dramatically increases your risk of heart disease and stroke. Recent studies definitively show that people who eat too much salt significantly increase their risk of stroke and heart disease.

The CDC report appears in the March 27 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

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