Did You Know? These Everyday Foods Are Surprisingly High In Sodium Content

Salt is must-have ingredients almost all the savoury dishes we consume. Apart from adding flavour to our food, it also provides the essential mineral of sodium. While sodium has its own health benefits - consuming it too much of the mineral could be harmful for us by increasing the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart ailments like heart attack and heart stroke. This doesn't mean that sodium is always bad for you. Sodium is full of electrolytes, which is beneficial for proper functioning of muscles and nerves. Sodium also helps create an ideal balance of water content in and around the cells inside the body.

In America, official dietary guidelines suggest a maximum intake of 2300 milligrams of sodium per day. So, be informed and be wary of the sodium content you consume every day. To help you out, here is a list of some everyday foods that have high sodium content.

(Also Read: Low Sodium Diet: How to Cut Down on Salt and Choose the Right Foods)

Here Are 4 Foods Rich In Sodium:

1. Shrimp

Frozen and packaged shrimp contains sodium in the form of salt for flavour, as well as one of the ingredients in preservatives to avoid loss of moisture during defrosting.

2. Ham

Salt is added to ham to enhance its flavour and to cure the meat. It is advised to eat ham occasionally in small quantities and avoid eating whole servings.

3. Packed Juices

Canned and bottled fruit and vegetable juices may be highly rich in sodium content. So, you should always read the labels for sodium quantity details before buying them.

4. Broth

Many people use store-bought, ready-made broths (vegetable or meat stock) for soups, gravies and marination. These packaged broths could contain up to 800 mg of sodium in one serving.

Choose your meals wisely and try to maintain an optimal balance of sodium intake on daily basis for good health.
 

(This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.)