Philly.com: Sodium content needs to be on the menu at Philly restaurants. Here’s why

“… Nearly 50 percent of American adults have high blood pressure, putting them at great risk of suffering a stroke or developing heart disease, two of the leading killers of Americans. Because excessive sodium contributes to high blood pressure, reducing our sodium intake is important for our health. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that we eat no more than 2,300 mg of sodium a day. But nearly all of us are overshooting that goal, with 89 percent of Americans consuming more than that on a daily basis. When we look at where we are getting all this sodium, we find that it doesn’t come from using a salt shaker when cooking at home. Instead, it largely comes from packaged and restaurant foods. In fact, 25 percent of the sodium that Americans consume is from restaurant food, much of which contains jaw-dropping amounts. For example, TGIFriday’s Southern Fried Buffalo Chicken Sandwich has 4,010 mg of sodium, while Chili’s full rack of Texas Dry Rub Ribs has a whopping 5,000 mg of sodium — more than two day’s worth. I am a scientist at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where I direct the Psychology of Eating and Consumer Health (PEACH) lab. In our lab, we’ve studied how food labeling influences people. Perhaps it’s not surprising that food labeling can encourage people to make healthier choices…” Read more at Philly.com.