ATLANTA

It’s bread, not junk food, that’s the No.1 source of salt

Bread and rolls are the No. 1 source of salt in the American diet, accounting for more than twice as much sodium as salty junk food like potato chips.

That surprising finding comes in a government report released Tuesday that includes a list of the top 10 sources of sodium. Salty snacks actually came in at the bottom of the list compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Potato chips, pretzels, and popcorn – which we think of as the saltiest foods in our diet – are only No. 10,” said CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden.

Breads and rolls aren’t really saltier than many of the other foods, but people tend to eat a lot of them, said Mary Cogswell, a CDC senior scientist who co-authored the report.

Salt is the main source of sodium for most people, and sodium increases the risk of high blood pressure, a major cause of heart disease and stroke. Health officials say most Americans get too much salt, mostly from processed and restaurant foods – not added from the salt shaker.

Experts have known that the sodium in breads and certain other foods can add up, but even CDC officials were amazed that just 10 foods are responsible for 44 percent of the sodium consumed.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.

Prosecutors ask Sandusky be kept inside his house

Prosecutors asked Tuesday to have Jerry Sandusky kept indoors as part of his bail conditions, citing complaints that the former Penn State football assistant was seen outside and watching children in a schoolyard from the back porch of his home, where he remains under house arrest while awaiting trial on child molestation charges.

The state attorney general’s office argued in a court filing that Sandusky’s bail conditions should be revised so that he is not allowed outside except to seek medical treatment. Prosecutors said they opposed Sandusky’s request to be allowed contact with his grandchildren as he awaits trial on 52 child sex-abuse charges.

NEW YORK

Teacher in child-porn case arrested on new charges

A New York City teacher’s aide already accused of possessing child pornography was jailed Tuesday after prosecutors brought new allegations that he videotaped himself spanking one naked child and fondling another in a public elementary school classroom.

FBI agents arrested Taleek Brooks, 40, at his Brooklyn apartment on Monday night after an investigation uncovered the videos on a computer seized last month from the home, authorities said.

A criminal complaint mentioned only two alleged victims – both believed by the federal authorities to be current or former students at the Weeksville School in Brooklyn, where Brooks had worked since 1995. The FBI held out the possibility there could be more student victims and was encouraging parents to come forward if they have information.

ROME

Court won’t let ship captain out from under house arrest

An Italian court refused Tuesday to lift an order of house arrest for Francesco Schettino, the captain of Costa Concordia cruise ship that ran aground off a Tuscan island last month.

The court in Florence rejected two requests: one from prosecutors to jail Schettino and another from Schettino to be freed.

Schettino commanded the ship with 4,200 people that ran aground off the island of Giglio on Jan. 13, killing 17 people and leaving 15 missing. He is being investigated for suspected manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the vessel before all its passengers were evacuated. The ship remains partly submerged off Giglio.

KINGSTON, Jamaica

Officials melt guns in bid to halt gun crime, corruption

Roughly 2,000 firearms were melted down in a blazing furnace Tuesday as part of an effort designed to combat gun trafficking and corruption in Jamaica while reducing violent crime.

Police, government and U.N. officials destroyed pistols and revolvers by pitching them into a kiln glowing bright orange at a cement factory in the capital of Kingston. Most of the guns were decommissioned or seized in police operations over the years.

National Security Minister Peter Bunting, who has been in office for just over a month, said the destruction of the weapons is an important first step toward managing the sizable stockpiles of guns in Jamaica and reducing the risk of theft.

 

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