Have you been down the salad dressing aisle lately? It's over-flowing with choices.

Unfortunately, many of these dressings are loaded with sodium.

"The biggest offenders, the biggest salty salad dressings out there, are the big sellers," says Jayne Hurley, senior nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

"Wishbone Italian has 500mg of sodium in two tablespoons. Ken's Steakhouse Lite Caesar has 620mg of sodium in two tablespoons. And if you are using more than that, if you're having salad as dinner, you're probably putting four tablespoons, twice that much on your salad."

Most of us should not eat less than 2,300mg of sodium a day. Experts says anyone with high blood pressure should try to limit their sodium intake to 1,500mg.

If you look around and are willing to pay a little more, you can find some great salad dressings that get their flavor from fresh herbs, not sugar, salt and artificial flavorings.

One bit of good news: When it comes to salad dressings you probably don't have to worry about saturated fat. Most are made from soybean, olive and sunflower oil, which can lower your risk of heart disease. Just remember, all fat is packed with calories.

So, watch the sodium and you should be all set.

In its November issue, Nutrition Action Healthletter, published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, rated dozens of dressings and found some real winners.

You can read that here: http://www.cspinet.net/nah/11_08/rating.pdf