Sodium can lead to hypertension, stroke and gastric cancer. The average Korean consumes 2.6 times more sodium per day than is recommended by the World Health Organization, which is 2,000 mg daily.

The Korea Drug and Food Administration (KFDA) submitted these statistics to Grand National Party lawmaker Bahk Jae-wan, a member of the National Assembly's health and welfare committee.

According to the KFDA's study of 66 instant noodle products in July, 47 products (71 percent) contain more than 1,800 mg of sodium, which is 90 percent of the daily recommended amount.

On average the products were found to contain 1,908 mg of sodium. Although that figure is down by 16 percent compared to the level found in a 2005 study, it is still high.

Koreans get most of their sodium from salt (20.1 percent), followed by soy beans (19.7 percent) and kimchi (19.6 percent). Instant noodles are the biggest source of sodium from processed foods, accounting for 4.7 percent of the average total sodium intake.

Koreans consume 5,280 mg of sodium on a daily basis on average, which is 1.6 times more than Americans (3,338 mg) and 1.2 times more than Japanese (4,560 mg).

"We should develop and distribute low sodium menus for dining services, and food makers should make efforts to reduce the high amounts of sodium in their products," lawmaker Bahk said.

(englishnews@chosun.com )