--Good morning to you, doctor. And youknow, we spent so much time focusing on the dangers of sugar. Now,this study indicates that salt could be even deadly. How long are you as adoctor when you hear these statistics? 

--I抦 concerned, I抦 definitely concerned, as you can see here on the left,this represents how much salt the average American takes in in their diet eachday, 3,400 milligrams roughly, compared to the American Heart Associationrecommended amount, which is 1,500 milligrams. So we抮e eating far more salt inour diet than we should. And it抯 been linked to high blood pressure,cardiovascular disease and stroke. So it抯 very concerned.

--So we all know that the usual suspects potato chips, French fries, etc. Whatare the surprising source of salt in our diet and what should we be eatinginstead?

--Most surprising is that there is a large amount of salt in both bread andcheese, so we consume a lot of bread and cheese, so we should be aware of that.And instead, we should definitely focus on fresh fruits and vegetables.

--A lot of people are gonna say: I don抰 want to have fresh fruits andvegetables, I like my bread and cheese.

--Sure. I mean everything in moderation. I think, you know, as long as we areconscious, health-conscious food-label readers, look at the label on our foods thatwe buy. Pre-packaged foods and see the sodium content, I think, you know,that抯 we抮e trying to keep below those recommended numbers.

--But this trend really starts at an early age, right? I mean the studysuggests that three out of four pre-packaged meals for toddlers contain toomuch salt as well.

--And you know, that to me is very surprising and somewhat alarming, as aparent, that the pre-packaged foods for toddlers contain so much salt. So againreading those food labels is so important. Some foods contain as much as 600mgsor so.

--And the addiction starts. So even now I'm feeding my son, I want to put somesalt suit to my, no no, I抦 going to do that quite so soon. These are alarmingfigures.