Could the excess sodium be the primary cause of health problems with consumption of fast food?

I am trying to lower my salt intake so I decided to google "low sodium fast food options" for when I occasionally do eat out with friends or have to grab a fast bite. What I found was that 99% of fast food items have something like 200% RDI for sodium on their sandwiches, 200% in their fries, etc, with maybe 1 or 2 menu items having something like 60% or less. This even applies to "healthy" chains like Panera. I don't think anyone who cooks at home comes anywhere close to this level of salt consumption. Compared to all other factors that could tie fast food to health problems vs cooking at home in studies (fat, high calories, high red meat consumption), doesn't the high sodium seem like it might be the main culprit? Plenty of people who cook at home still cook fatty meals, high calorie meals, and eat red meat. But I don't think so many people pour a mountain of salt on food at home. Thoughts?

Answer

I wouldn’t say it’s just the sodium, but it’s definitely a factor.

A healthy, well functioning liver should be capable of filtering excess sodium in our diets. However, other things such as eating processed food high in fructose (which is processed directly by the liver) puts strain on this organ and causes metabolic disorders. Soft drinks contain more concentrated fructose than would ever occur naturally.

That said, heart disease is the number one killer and is highly correlated with excess salt. Some of the low carb fiends will tell you this is all sugars fault, but this isn’t the whole story either.The problem is the combination of processed food, which is wrecking metabolic processes and putting strain on the liver, with excess salt. Fast food is high fructose, high fat, high calorie and high sodium.

Answer

Sodium isn’t the main factor. Low quality food, high omega 6, vegetable oil, hyper processed, higher in processed sugar and preservatives.

Sodium is the icing on the cake but the issue is sodium balance, not sodium itself.