A well-written commentary stressing the fact that reducing sodium intake could have a remarkable impact on the distribution of blood pressure values and on related cardiovascular diseases. The authors also point out that as about three-quarters of the sodium in our diet comes from processed and restaurant foods, regulatory approaches to this problem should be considered if voluntary sodium-reduction measures are not taken. In addition, eating out more frequently and eating fewer home-cooked meals is likely to have a major impact on average sodium consumption in North America. Getting back to basics and teaching kids and family how to cook and control the sodium content of foods could therefore have beneficial effects on the distribution of North American blood pressure values. But to achieve this goal, nutrition education in schools should also be emphasized as an additional way of addressing the huge public health problem of hypertension, which appears to be partly driven by the high sodium consumption of North Americans.
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