Updated 01/13/2010 01:53 PM
School Lunches Have High Sodium Levels, Review Finds
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg may want to start with school lunches if he wants to reduce New Yorkers’ sodium intake.
Some items on the city's public school lunch menu pack a heavy salt punch, according to a review of nutrition information on the Department of Education's website.
NYC Health Commission Thomas Farley will be a guest on NY1's "Inside City Hall" tonight to discuss the sodium levels in school lunches and much more. The program airs at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Among the items of note is a reduced-fat cheese sandwich, which contains a whopping 1,160 milligrams of sodium.
A pizza burger contains 951 milligrams, a ham and cheese sandwich comes in at almost 850, and a piece of chicken parmesan has 839 milligrams. Even a plain bagel registers at 700 milligrams.
The problem is magnified by the fact that kids can now eat up to three meals a day at school.
Health guidelines recommend Americans consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of salt a day.
At these levels, three school meals would blow way past that.
On Monday, the mayor proposed cutting the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant foods in the city by 25 percent over the next five years.
The aim is to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by cutting cut sodium intake by 20 percent.