Almost two years ago , Philadelphia launched its Healthy Chinese Take-out Initiative with the goal of reducing sodium content by 10 % to 15 % . The city 's Public Health Department worked with 206 restaurants , first evaluating their menus for sodium content and then helping them choose ingredients and develop recipes with less sodium . One way found to reduce sodium was for restaurants to cut the use of commercially prepared sauces and instead make their own . After nine months , the initiative analyzed two popular dishes from 20 participating restaurants to see what changed . The result ? A 20 % reduction in sodium , more than the project 's goal . It 's one thing to choose how much salt to add to your food when you eat . It 's another to live with decisions made by those who prepare your food before it makes it to the table . It 's not a question of just putting down the salt shaker . The vast majority of sodium consumed in the United States comes from processed and restaurant foods . Americans eat out , on average , almost five times a week , and restaurant foods make up a surprisingly high percentage of sodium in the American diet . On average , food from fast-food restaurants contains about 1,850 milligrams of sodium per 1,000 calories and food from sit-down restaurants has nearly 2,100 milligrams per 1,000 calories . Many restaurant meals have twice that many calories or more . Toddler meals swimming in salt . U.S. dietary guidelines recommend limiting sodium to less than 2,300 milligrams a day -- and about six in 10 adults should further limit sodium to 1,500 milligrams a day . Excess sodium can lead to high blood pressure , a major contributor to heart disease and stroke . An article published Thursday by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , `` From Menu to Mouth : Opportunities for Sodium Reduction in Restaurants , '' offers strategies that reduce sodium in restaurant food . Restaurants can provide nutrition information at the point of purchase to give consumers the option to make healthier choices . They can also create group purchasing organizations to save on bulk purchases of lower-sodium ingredients . Health departments can make dietitians available to assist restaurants with nutrition support . It all boils down to : reduce , replace , reformulate . When restaurants rethink how they prepare food and the ingredients they use , the healthy choice becomes the easy one for the customer . The story in Philadelphia shows it can be done . The CDC collaborates with the food industry to reduce sodium in the food supply and provides technical assistance for this important work . We monitor programs to see what 's working in sodium reduction as well as broader blood pressure control initiatives through Million Hearts , the national public-private effort to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years . And we share that information through papers such as the one published Thursday . Reducing sodium in restaurant and prepared foods is n't about reducing choice -- just the opposite . By reducing sodium in the foods you buy , companies put control into your hands . After all , it 's easy to add salt if you want to , but not to take it out if it 's there .
Philadelphia 's sodium-reducing initiative is a success story , CDC 's Dr. Tom Frieden says . Processed and restaurant foods make up majority of sodium consumed in U.S. , he says . CDC chief : Restaurants can rethink how they prepare food and ingredients used .