The Saltiest Foods in America, 2009

The authors of Eat This Not That examine restaurants' use of sodium, and you should take their findings with more than a grain of ... well, you know.

By Dave Zinczenko and Matt Goulding, Men's Health

Salty food may seem like the least of your worries, especially if you're among the 40 percent of people who mindlessly shake salt on every dish they eat. An extra dash here, a few sprinkles there-what's the big deal?

A lot, considering that one teaspoon of the stuff accounts for all your entire day's recommended 2,300 milligrams. Restaurants' ever-expanding portion sizes mean that supersalty foods are displacing fresh fruits and vegetables, which are rich in potassium. And a 1:2 ratio of dietary salt to potassium is critical for your health. Studies show that a high-sodium, low-potassium diet is linked to a host of maladies, including high blood pressure, stroke, osteoporosis, and exercise-induced asthma.

To protect your heart, your bones, your muscles, and your tastebuds, we scoured restaurant menus to expose the Saltiest Foods in America 2009. Some of the worst offenders from last year's list have been seriously scaled down (Chili's dropped 843 miligrams of sodium from its Guiltless Grilled Chicken Platter, and Quizno's sliced 960 mg from its Turkey Bacon Guacamole Sub), but there's still a mouth-parching amount of sodium on the table at many of your favorite restaurants. High salt levels are a telltale sign of restaurants replacing quality ingredients with cheap, heavily-processed staples, meaning more fat and less flavor for your caloric buck. Dodge these hidden salt grenades and you'll not only look and feel better, you'll eat better, too.

http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100236273&GT1=31036