tonight on "nightline," a pinch of risk. it makes our holiday meals delicious, but america's favorite seasoning is now under assault. and the food bullies are ready to pounce, warning we eat way too much without even knowing it. tonight, the serious risks linked to the every day foods in your shopping cart. extreme toddler parties. limos, aerialists, sushi and red carpets. the sky's the limit at birthday bashes with the guest of honor may just be turning 1. we'll show you how and why parents are spending tens of thousands of dollars. and first mates. we care a lot about who moves into the white house. and we don't mean just the president. so, what will it take this time

to close the deal with america when you're running for first lady or gentleman? >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," december 13th, 2011. >> good evening, i'm bill weir. as the only rock we eat, salt has been a treasured commodity going back to the earliest civilizations and while we don't trade it anymore, most of us have enough affection for it to be dangerous. and now the fda has signaled that it is looking for new ways to bring salt consumption in line. a shift that could change eating as we know it. here's abc's linsey davis. >> crispy and cooks the inside afterwards. >> reporter: taste is what makes chef andrew's roasted chicken the hottest selling item on the menu. >> flip it over. >> reporter: like this? to get that taste that has people flocking to his trendy

downtown manhattan restaurant, he uses olive oil, a bit of lemon and a very generous helping of salt. >> if you don't have salt on there, it's going to be bland. and i don't want to go through life with bland food. >> reporter: he brians the chicken in salt and water for 45 minutes before roasting. >> what the salt water does is penetrate the cells of the meat and makes it softer and juicier. >> reporter: but now salt is under attack. the fda is considering limiting the amount of salt that restaurants can use in food. all restaurants. from this one all the way down to fast food joints. but chef andrew finds that an outrage and says he's ready to fight it. >> the fda should crack down, not on my roast chicken. >> reporter: he says you can't blame his roasted chicken for americans eating too much salt. >> salt and pepper on food to make it taste great, that's different than you open up a plastic container of chips and

do a can of soup or, you know, a thing of popcorn that's processed already. >> reporter: but this woman disagrees. nutritionist cynthia sass says americans are eating far too much sodium, often without even realizing it. the fda recommends americans eat only about two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt a day. that's 1,500 milligrams. in fact, the average american can easily eat twice the amount of salt that he or she should in one meal. pizza and wings. >> four slices from a medium pizza and four wings, almost 4,000 milligrams of sodium here. >> reporter: grilled cheese, tomato soup, seems like it would be reasonably healthy. >> this meal, over 2,700 milligrams. >> reporter: lasagna and a salad. >> yeah, this is a lot more. over 4,700 milligrams of sodium here. >> reporter: really you're talking about what you should consume in two days in one meal. >> about two and a half days

worth in one dinner. >> reporter: and that excess adds up. let's get a sense of a year. >> 11 cups of salt, the equivalent sodium intake. >> reporter: this is a lot. enough to melt the ice on a large stretch of sidewalk. >> the land mine of sodium is really the supermarket. >> reporter: sass says that's because 75% of our sodium intake comes from processed foods. but there are ways of limiting it. for example, look no further than the serving size on the back of your can. >> there's two servings in this can. so, our sodium here, 470 milligrams, for one serving, you have the whole thing, now we're talking almost 1,000 -- out of that 1,500 for one meal. >> reporter: and if you are having a salad, look closely before you douse it with dressing. >> this is a high sodium item, just salad dressings in general. so, if we turn this over, we look at the sodium, 300

milligrams. but you have to make sure you look at the serving size. it's two tablespoons. >> reporter: who is using that? >> most of us use at least double that. >> reporter: don't be fooled by the labeling. low, light, reduced sodium? each means something different. >> reduced sodium, 25% less than its original version. if it says low sodium on the label, it has to have less than 140 milligrams of sodium per serving. >> reporter: lite typically means 50% less than the original. no salt added means no additional salt to whatever's naturally in the product. one easy fix to lower your daily salt intake, learn to substitute. like this plain bagel. it has 500 milligrams of sodium. and that's before you put any butter or cream cheese on it. >> this is really the equivalent of three to four slices of bread. so, one thing we can do is, kind of use something that's a little bit less dense like an english muffin. >> reporter: 200 milligrams.

>> even if you only had half, you're still going to get more here than you would in the muffin. >> reporter: and that could mean 11 million fewer high blood pressure patients. an estimated 92,000 lives saved, along with about $24 billion in health care costs each year. >> so, it's eye damage, kidney damage, there are some links to cancer. lowering brood pressure effe effectively markedly reduces risk of stroke and heart failure. >> reporter: and if sodium levels are cut down, over time, he says we would likely reduce our craving for salt. >> your taste buds get used to it. food is going to taste awful, that's just untrue. >> reporter: all right, don't try this at home. what chef andrew says you can try at home is cooking with fresh food. and using somal tern tichs to salt like lemon juice, gin jar

vinegar and regano. this is the best part. >> excellent. >> reporter: you can taste the salt. but not too salty. >> having a great meal without any salt is kind of sad, really. impossible. >> reporter: that's the opinion of a man that dedicates his life to the delicious. for the rest of us, it's a matter of taste and good health. for "nightline," i'm linsey davis in new york. >> boy, amen to the chef and our thanks to linsey davis. just ahead, the red carpet treatment for little children on their birthdays. and wait until you see the aerialists. ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> these days, it's a good problem to have. jojo is turning 1, so, do you book the akro bats and the sushi bar or the limo and pirate ship? few may understand how anyone can spend tens of thousands of dollars on an infant's party, because what do you do when the kid turns 2? for a glimpse inside this rarefied world, here's abc's andrea canning. >> reporter: an aerialist. full sushi bar. even a roller coaster. it's a party the birthday boy will remember forever. or maybe not. jojo here is just 1 year old. but that didn't stop his parents, lisa and joe, from sparing any expense for his megabirthday bash. how much money are you spending on the party? >> do i have a bodyguard around? we're at $40,000 right now. >> reporter: no, it probably wouldn't surprise you that

celebrity parents throw over the top birthday parties all the time, like sean "diddy" combs buying his son justice a $360,000 car. but every day moms and dad are now emptying their wallets to sing happy birthday in style. and the kids keep getting younger. tlc's show "outray now kid parties" features parents that pull out all the stops for their little one. like 8-year-old aniston's rock star party, complete with a limo and red carpet. or 7-year-old alex's pirate-themed extravaganza. or 6-year-old gracie's princess fantasy come true. over the top, definitely. obnoxious? well, that depends on your perspective. >> happy birthday! there you go. >> reporter: for joe and lisa, who are a successful construction business, the party price tag is not an issue. jojo's hatch brother alex is

used to his little brother getting all the attention. >> he is very spoiled. i'm spoiled to a certain degree but he's mega-spoiled. he gets whatever he wants. >> reporter: they're little jojo is worth every penny. he is, after all, their miracle baby. >> we were a little nervous because joe was born missing his right arm. he was born with severe scoliosis. >> had heart surgery. two major back surgeries. so -- >> so we were a little concerned that possibly it was genetic. >> reporter: so, they were overjoyed when lisa found out she was pregnant with what appeared to be healthy twins, but that joy quickly gave way to heartache. >> three months into the pregnancy, i lost one of them. but they assured me the second would be fine and two weeks later, i lost that baby. so, you know, it was really devastating. >> reporter: they kept trying. when lisa became pregnant with jojo, this time, they braced for

bad news. >> i was nervous the most, because i wanted him being born with both arms and legs, because i would have felt, even though i get along great, i would have been, oh, this is my fault. i couldn't sleep the night before worrying, are they going to be there? >> reporter: it was a struggle, but jojo finally entered the world and he was healthy. >> i'll never forget. the nurse puts him down, i go, one, two, three, four, five, both of his arms and legs. >> reporter: so, one year later, there's a lot to celebrate and a lot to plan. first, a tour of space odyssey, a head-spinning party space. >> yay. which one do you like? >> reporter: next stop, cake tasting. >> i like this one. this one. that one. and that one. >> reporter: lisa decides on a cake that requires some assembly. it's going to take three people three weeks to put it together.

with all the final details in place, there's only one thing left to do. ♪ >> i don't think i've ever seen a 1st birthday like this before. it's unbelievable. every single element in this party is a big wow. there's no little wow. there's nothing in this party, not one detail has not been a wow. >> reporter: you this it's a little much for a 1-year-old? >> it's perfect. >> reporter: $40,000 for a 1-year-old? >> you live life once. >> here's the cake. >> oh, my goodness! >> reporter: and there it is. that custom cake. 3,500 bucks for buzz lightyear and friends. jojo is 1 and won't remember any of this, obviously. do you feel like all of this was necessary? >> it probably wasn't necessary but i think he will benefit from this. the love, just, the whole ambience and the feeling he'ing going to get. >> he's my boy, you know?

the little one. might be over the top, but you know what i don't care. he's worth it. >> reporter: and besides, maybe this party isn't just for jojo. >> i didn't think i would do this again, this was, you know, one time celebration but i think i'm going to have to have another baby. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm andrea canning in engelwood, new jersey. >> our thanks 0 andrea. and coming up, meet the women who hope to make the white house their home. you found it. wow. nice place. yeah. [ chuckles ] the family thinks i'm out shipping these. smooth move. you used priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships for a low, flat rate. paid for postage online and arranged a free pickup. and i'm gonna track them online, too. nice. between those boxes and this place, i'm totally staying sane this year. do i smell snickerdoodles? maybe. [ timer dings ] got to go. priority mail flat rate shipping at usps.com. a simpler way to ship.

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there is an obama in the white house tonight enjoying a comfy 67% approval rating and her name is michelle. even as presidents struggle, most first ladies enjoy relative affection, but what about the spouses of presidential hopefuls? how much do they influence the vote in a nomination race like this one? well, tonight, my co-anchor terry moran looks at a couple of

women with their own eyes on the west wing. that's in tonight's "nightline unspun." >> reporter: nobody runs for president alone. >> my wife or 42 years. >> calista and i are delighted to be back. >> my husband and i. >> reporter: the men and women who run for president need their life partners to lean on, to stand by them, to vouch for them with voters. >> thank you. >> the reason we're interested in wives of important people, but particularly the president, is because it tells us something about him. >> reporter: abc's cokie roberts has covered presidential politics for four decades. >> that person, that woman, is going to have a tremendous power. she has the ear of the most powerful man in the country. and she can't be fired. >> reporter: in this roller coaster of a republican race for the nomination, the spouses are taking center stage.

there's ann romney. >> i think more and more people are figuring out that mitt is the one who knows what he's taking about. >> reporter: she and mitt romney have been married 42 years, happily, by all accounts, and more and more, they want you to know that. in romney's latest ad? >> i think people understand that i'm a man of steadiness. >> reporter: and in ann romney's account on the campaign trail of how her husband has helped her live with multiple sclerosis and the depression that came with it. >> he doesn't give up. he sticks with you. he -- you can trust him. >> reporter: the point is clear. they aren't them. >> ka list is a and i. >> reporter: calista gingrich is newt jigingrich's third wife. >> as you probably know, my husband newt is a republican candidate for president of the united states. >> reporter: friends like to say they're a great couple who had a nontraditional start. and there is no doubt that she

is his full partner, as she showed in a recent interview with the christian broadcasting network. >> we are a team. and we spend a lot of time together. and this was a joint decision that he would run for the presidency. and i'm glad we made that decision. we believe deeply that this country has a lot of challenges ahead of it and we fear for the future of our country and we're going to give it our best shot. >> does she make him more friendly and warm and people like him better because he's with her? or does she remind them that this is not his first wife and that their relationship started in a somewhat unsavory way? >> reporter: think a lot of voters are going to have a problem with that? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: duh. >> my view is that everybody has a right to know these things. >> reporter: that's because electing a president is a gut-check decision for most