Salt might secretly be spiking your appetite - Fox 2 News Headlines

By Fox 2 News Staff

Source & Photo Credit: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WJBK) -- You want to shed a few pounds, so you're counting calories and fretting over fat grams, but did you know sodium can sabotage your diet?

Dr. Martha Gulati, a cardiologist with Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center, says too much salt consumption will increase your appetite and cause you to retain water, increasing your weight.  She warns there are other sources of salt other than just the table variety.

"77 percent of the sodium in our diet comes from processed food, and that's what people have to realize."

You might not expect to find salt in fresh cut meats, but Gulati says "at the grocery store, often they inject sodium into it to make it plumper.  They make a mixture of water and salt to make it look better on the grocery shelf."

Watch the video report for more on this story, including the amount of salt Gulati says can be found in the average restaurant meal.

Remember, you should try to keep your salt intake to less than 2,300 milligrams a day or 1,500 milligrams a day if you have heart risks.