Are You Eating Too Much Salt?

May 11, 2009— -- Salt: It's the not-so-secret ingredient in tasty treats like chicken fingers, onion rings and tomato juice.

But today one group advocating healthy eating says that at some chain restaurants, we may be getting nearly four times the amount of salt we need in a day in one single sitting.

"If the meal was high in fat, it was high in salt. If it was low in fat, it was low in salt. Salt city at restaurants," Michael Jacobson, executive director of Center for Science in the Public Interest told ABC News.

CSPI released a report this morning detailing which restaurants are the worst offenders when it comes to meals packed with sodium.

Watch "World News with Charles Gibson" TONIGHT at 6:30 p.m. ET for the full report.

Instead of eating those meals, some suggest steering clear of salty foods and choosing healthier alternatives when eating out, cooking at home and even opting for drive-through where portions are smaller.

U.S. dietary guidelines recommend healthy adults get a maximum daily dose of about 2,300 mg of salt. But some of the meals on CSPI's list had more than 6,000 mg. With large portion sizes, sit-down restaurants like Red Lobster, Chili's and Olive Garden can be more of a problem than fast food.

Doctors like Keith Ayoob, director of the nutrition clinic at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, worry because too much salt can contribute to high blood pressure, potentially leading to heart attack and stroke.

But salt is an inexpensive flavor enhancer that your taste buds quickly get used to and crave -- and it can be tricky to monitor how much you're consuming, Ayoob said.

Two cases in point: An otherwise healthy stir-fry can be loaded with salt and so can broth-based soups.

"It's not something like fat where you can kind of see a greasy food and you know it's there," Ayoob told ABC News.

That's one reason restaurants that made the list say they work hard to keep customers informed and offer healthy choices.

Red Lobster, for instance, posts nutritional content for all of its meals on its Web site, redlobster.com, and in its restaurants. An online calculator also lets customers add up what they're consuming in a full meal and swap in healthier alternatives.

"Red Lobster offers many options for those watching their sodium intake, including up to eight species of fresh fish in each restaurant and a Lighthouse menu with selections less than 500 calories and 750mg of sodium," Red Lobster's communications director Mark Jaronski said in a statement.

He added that both the American Heart Association and theAmerican Dietetic Association recommend eating seafood at least twice a week.

Chili's, too, publicizes nutrition information including sodium content online and offers a "guiltless grill" menu that gives diners healthier options.