HOUSTON – Healthy eaters beware—sodium is lurking where you least expect it.
Nine out of 10 Americans consume too much salt, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All that sodium increases a person's risk for high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke.
And it all starts at breakfast, according to Cleveland Clinic dietitian Kristin Kirkpatrick.
"Breakfast cereals tend to have a little bit more sodium than you would think," she said. "On average, the most popular breakfast cereals on the market contain anywhere between 200-300 milligrams of sodium for a one cup serving."
The CDC suggests that most adults eat 1,500 milligrams or less of sodium per day. Certain dairy products can surpass that amount in just a few servings.
"The big culprits with dairy products are going to be cottage cheese or super processed cheese like an American cheese," Kirkpatrick said. "Those will have the most sodium between 400-800 milligrams, depending on if you're going to have a cup or so of cottage cheese, which is not difficult to do. You can get almost 900 milligrams of sodium."
And beware of processed sauces too, because they tend to be high in sodium, especially spaghetti sauce.
"It's actually not really awful for really one serving, but most of us are not measuring out a quarter cup or a half a cup of spaghetti sauce on top of our pasta," Kirkpatrick explained. "So if we're following that trend then we will consume about 1,000 milligrams of sodium just for our spaghetti sauce."