Deupree House's Premier Senior Living Blog

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.), "the majority of the sodium Americans consume, more than 75%, is found in processed food and restaurant meals." Living well and protecting your health includes eating right. Canned soups, while a satisfying cold-weather meal, are often high in sodium content.

You probably already know that a high-salt diet puts you at risk for heart disease and strokes. Salt, via its component element sodium, raises blood pressure (a condition known as hypertension) and can damage heart muscle tissue or brain tissue, as well as weaken the walls of major blood vessels like the coronary and femoral arteries. And though the heart and brain get most of the attention when it comes to warnings, high dietary sodium intake has farther-reaching consequences in the body — especially for seniors.