Health Canada is preparing to release new guidelines that will suggest a reduction in how much sodium Canadians should consume.

The voluntary guidelines are expected to be announced in mid-July by Health Canada's sodium working group.

Health Canada estimates that nine in 10 Canadians will require blood pressure medication at some point in their lives.

A 2004 Canadian health survey by Statistics Canada measuring the percentage of total sodium consumed from food sources found that only two per cent came from potato chips and salty snacks.

The biggest offender for adding sodium to diets was bread, at 14 per cent. Also high on the list was processed meats (nine per cent), vegetables, tomatoes and vegetable juices (eight per cent) and soups (seven per cent).

In the average North American diet, 77 per cent of sodium comes from processed food products, 12 per cent occurs naturally in food, six per cent is added at the table and five per cent is added during cooking.


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