What I have been telling clients for years, from another source:

April 27, 2011

By Deborah Kotz, Boston Globe Staff

I wasn't surprised by a survey released this week by the American Heart Association showing Americans are woefully ill-informed about two things that affect their heart-disease risk: salt and alcohol.  While more than three-quarters of the 1,000 folks the AHA surveyed knew that wine was good for their heart, less than a third knew the recommended daily limit -- four ounces of wine for women and eight ounces for men.

And more than 60 percent of survey respondents thought that sea salt had less sodium than regular salt.  Perhaps that's because some health food products proudly proclaim on their labels that they contain sea salt.

Also not surprising: The vast majority of us don't know the recommended limit on sodium is 1,500 miligrams per day; that's equivalent to a tablespoon of salt, says Dr. Gerald Fletcher, an American Heart Association spokeperson and cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Jacksonville, Fla.

So all we have to do is stop using the salt shaker, right?  Well, actually no.  "Up to 75 percent of the sodium that Americans consume is found in processed foods such as tomato sauce, soups, condiments, canned foods and perpared mixes,"  according to the AHA.

Yes, survey respondents got that wrong too.

But most of them did know their blood pressure numbers.  They just didn't have a clue what they needed to do from a dietary standpoint to bring high levels down -- which is probably why so many folks are on medication.

"Many people don't realize how much salt is in canned foods, packaged foods, and meals prepared in a retaurant,"  says Fletcher.  About 20 to 30 percent of us are salt sensitive, which means our blood pressure can skyrocket upwards if we exceed the daily limit on sodium.

A small percentage of folks have blood pressure effects from excess alcohol consumption, Fletcher adds, and the only way to know if you're either salt - or alcohol - sensitive is to take your blood pressure reading after overindulging.

All of this, though, probably sounds rather complicated, which is probably why most Americans can't keep track of whether they've exceeded their sodium quota for the day.  And we haven't even talked about sugat.  (The AHA wants us to get no more than 100 to 150 calories a day in added sugars -- another piece of advice that's hard to follow.)

I asked Fletcher: Couldn't the message just be simplified so Americans don't need to keep track of every calorie, milligram of salt, and gram of sugar they consume?  How about just telling folks to avoid the packaged, processed junk food in the interior aisles of the supermarket and to instead head for the fresh fruit, vegetables, and fish?

He tells me that's probably a good idea and would pass along my advice to folks at the AHA.  For the time being, follow some simple rules of thumb:

• Stick with fresh produce or check the label to make sure there's no salt added to canned or frozen goods
• Use fresh spices when you cook to replace salt, and look for sodium-free seasonsings
• Stick to a limit of a glass of wine a day if you're a woman, or two glasses if you're a man