Avoid these shocking sources of salt to cut back on your sodium intake.

The average American gets about twice as much blood-pressure-boosting sodium a day as the recommended 1,500 to 2,300 mg limit. Not every pretzel lover develops hypertension, but some 73 million of us have it. And new research shows that high blood pressure kills more women than men and is two to three times more common in women who take oral contraceptives.

Even if you never lift a shaker, you may be eating much more salt than you think. It lurks in many processed foods, even those that don't taste salty. Right now there's no specific limit on how much salt manufacturers can put in their products, but the American Medical Association and other groups are pushing the FDA to change salt's “generally recommended as safe” status, which could give the agency more power to restrict sodium levels.

Salt adds up fast, so skip foods with more than 500 mg of sodium per serving, and be aware of these shocking sources:

Bread: A bagel has upwards of 450 mg, twice the amount in a medium order of McDonald's fries. Two slices of Pepperidge Farm Whole Wheat bread have 360 mg.

Dairy: A half cup of cottage cheese has 460 mg; two slices of American cheese, 540 mg.

Poultry: A four-ounce chicken breast contains as much as 350 mg-and that's before you doctor it up.

"Instant" options: It's not just the well-known culprits (canned soup, flavored rice, pasta sauce). Four small pancakes made with Aunt Jemima's Original mix contain 740 mg of sodium, and a half cup of Jell-O Instant Lemon Pudding has 310 mg.

有時你并不自知，鈉卻已經(jīng)悄悄地在你的體內(nèi)積聚。

一個成年人一天的標準鈉攝取量在1500毫克至2300毫克之間，而一個美國人每天的平均攝取量卻可達到標準的兩倍，大大推高了血壓。愛吃咸餅干的人不見得都得高血壓癥，可恰恰有七千三百萬人不幸中招。最新研究表明因高血壓致死的女性超過了男性的數(shù)量，服食口服避孕藥的女性發(fā)病率更是上升了兩三倍。

就算你不在食物中撒鹽，你的鹽分攝取量就已經(jīng)不少了，比如加工食品中就有鹽分，雖然很多時候嘗起來并不咸。現(xiàn)在并沒有明文規(guī)定加工商最多在食品中加入多少鹽分，就算美國食品藥品管理局也只是籠統(tǒng)地說“建議適量添加”，所以美國醫(yī)藥協(xié)會和其它社會團體正努力引起當(dāng)局的注意，以便能盡快出臺詳盡的規(guī)定。

鹽分累積的速度驚人，因此，請盡量避免一次性食用含鈉量超過500毫克的食物。下面的這些食品也應(yīng)引起大家的注意：

面包：一個圈餅的含鈉量可達到450毫克，相當(dāng)于一份麥當(dāng)勞中薯條含鈉量的兩倍。兩片Pepperidge農(nóng)場全麥面包含鈉360毫克。

奶制品：半塊農(nóng)家乳酪（cottage cheese）含鈉量為460毫克；兩片美國乳酪（American cheese）則為540毫克。

雞肉：113.4克（4盎司）的鮮雞胸肉含有350毫克的鈉，可以想象調(diào)味以后鹽分會更高。

“即食”、“速溶”、“半成品”：臭名昭著的罐裝湯品、多味米飯、意大利面醬汁我們就不再重申了。四小塊用吉米瑪大嬸（Aunt Jemima）的原味混合料做成的薄餅含鈉量達到740毫克，而半塊捷奧（Jell-O）即食檸檬布丁含鈉310毫克。