What child doesn't love to eat a bag of popcorn, licking the excess salt off of each finger? Many of the foods we love contain large amounts of sodium. Foods with lower levels of sodium often taste bland. But are we once again sabotaging our health for taste? (Yes!) And should the government help save the public's health by mandating decreased levels of salt in the foods American's consume? (Yes!)
According to a new statement from the Food and Drug Administration, Americans are eating way too much salt. The FDA has called for the government to impose stricter regulations on how much salt food products can contain. Unfortunately, the government has no plans to institute these suggestions. Instead, the FDA must rely on voluntary salt reductions from food manufacturers. To date, this approach has not worked very well.
How much salt are we eating? The average American eats 1.5 teaspoons of salt a day, more than double the recommended amount. In fact, this amount of salt increases the risk for high blood pressure, strokes, and other medical problems. Don't think that you are safe by simply forgoing the salt shaker! Putting salt on foods only adds insult to injury. Large amounts of salt are hidden in most processed foods and restaurant meals.
Current government guidelines call for a maximum daily sodium intake of 2,300 milligrams. Health problems appear when intake is above this number. These new statements suggest a recommended maximum daily sodium intake of 1,500 mg a day (and less for adults over age 50). It seems we pay no attention to these guidelines as the average consumption of sodium is more than 3,400 mg a day. Apparently, simply knowing that one's diet is not healthy is not enough to convince the average American to change habits.
Rather than calling for a drastic reduction in added sodium, researchers are suggesting a gradual change so the country's taste buds can adapt and the food industry has time to look for tasty, but healthier, alternatives. Their proposed regulations would ease both food producers and consumers into a healthier way of eating by setting maximum sodium levels for different foods in a stepwise rollback set over a period of years. The final goal is to decrease salt consumption by 0.5 teaspoons per day.
Government officials claim that writing new laws to set limits on sodium levels would take much longer than working with food executives on voluntary reductions. Food executives, however, argue that there are no tasty ways to decrease sodium levels. But brand-to-brand differences in the same foods suggest that's not so.
The Institute of Medicine, in a statement given this Tuesday, reported that the food industry has made very little progress in voluntarily reducing sodium. What a surprise! You mean companies haven't been willing to spend large amounts of money to produce a product that, while healthier, will not taste quite as good? Shocking.
Salt leads to real health problems. One in three US adults suffers from high blood pressure, a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. The American Medical Association predicts that 150,000 lives could be saved each year, simply by cutting the sodium levels in processed and restaurant foods in half.
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If you read the Dietary Recommended Intakes for salt, you will see that the RAAS is activated at levels of 3,000 mg Na/day or less. This is well above the upper limit of 2,300 mg Na/day and double the 1,500 mg/day. Where do you get your references for saying the FDA would not reduce salt enough to stimulate the RAAS?
I think it might be fair to prohibit sales of certain foods to say, children under 12. A tax also makes sense, like the one on sugary beverages being proposed in New York, (and heavily lobbied against by the industry). Unhealthy food has public costs just like smoking does, so the people who consume these items should make down-payments on their medical expenses every time they buy. I am a smoker and I don't object to the high taxes I pay, but I do wish that everyone would pay their fair share, including people who eat loads of unhealthy food.
The only place where your BP is measured consistently every few hours is in the hospital. If you check out Wikipedia, during a hospital stay, the average amount for a daily saline drip is 3 liters per day. So, aside from the salt in food, you are given 27 grams of salt a day - almost 5 times the recommended amount - and your blood pressure is monitored every 4-6 hours to make sure it's ok - and it is.
The salt reduction initiatives have gone way beyond what the scientific evidence says and have morphed from science into ideology.
Unintentional injuries (e.g., car crashes, falls, burns, drowning).
* Intentional injuries (e.g., firearm injuries, sexual assault, domestic violence).
* Alcohol poisoning.
* Sexually transmitted diseases.
* Unintended pregnancy.
* Children born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.
* High blood pressure, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases.
* Liver disease.
* Neurological damage.
* Sexual dysfunction.
* Poor control of diabetes.
Evidence-based interventions to prevent binge drinking and related harms6,7,8,9,10 include
* Increasing alcoholic beverage costs and excise taxes.
* Limiting the number of retail alcohol outlets that sell alcoholic beverages in a given area.
* Consistent enforcement of laws against underage drinking and alcohol-impaired driving.
* Screening and counseling for alcohol misuse.
I'm definitely someone who loves salt and salty foods - but I wouldn't mind at all if food had less hidden salt in it so that I could easily control my sodium intake myself. As things are now, it's really difficult for people to even know how much salt they're consuming, and it does lead to health problems.
Nobody is saying that you shouldn't live - or enjoy life to the fullest - or eat the foods that taste best to you.
Yes, because industry has consistently shown its willingness to place public safety/welfare above profits.
The only, and the best, solution is for everyone to just stop buying all this processed cr*p. Eat more simple and natural foods, eat organic, eat foods with 5 or less ingredients. That being said, I'm craving a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos! Hey, I'm only human!
Hopefully as more attention is drawn to the importance of eating better (and as demand increases!) prices will become more accessible.
You may have opened a door you can't close. If so, you have my sympathy.
Instead, the use of unrefined Sea Salt, should instead be encouraged. It reduces hypertension and inflammation. David Brownstein, MD, as noted in his book, Salt Your Way to Health, starts patients on 10 grams a day of Sea Salt to reduce blood pressure and improve health. 10 grams a day is 1.5 teaspoons a day of Sea Salt.
Reducing salt intake alone is dangerous. It increases inflammation and increases the risk for heart attacks. The increased risk of heart attacks is documented in the U.S. Government's own large scale population studies.
Switching from unhealthy bleached refined salt (table salt) to Sea Salt should be encouraged.
I have to wonder if this cutting down of salt will contribute to new problems such as iodine deficiencies, dehydration problems, too low blood pressure and adrenal fatigue.
for more on this, please read http://drvittoriarepetto.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/to-salt-or-not-to-salt-that-is-the-question/
Salt is only one evil of prepared foods, which can contain everything from chemical dyes, botulin toxin to BPA to E coli, some announced on the label, some not. I don't notice any attempt to ban prepared foods, nor should there be. As long as cigarettes and alcohol and high-fructose corn syrup remain on the market, and we give people a choice as to whether to indulge or not, it seems ridiculous to go after sodium because some might over-consume.
If we care about our health, we will buy fresh ingredients and prepare them ourselves.
I would also like to bring up the point that, to my knowledge, all of the studies performed to date regarding the effect of "salt" on blood pressure used the Frankensalt known as refined salt or table salt. This product is nowhere to be found in nature, yet is the one used by the majority of people.
What nature has in mind is "unrefined salt" (examples are Celtic Salt and RealSalt), which has very different properties than the refined stuff. Informal clinical trials have actually shown that use of unrefined salt can, after a brief adjustment period, provide a reduction in blood pressure!
For references on the healing properties of unrefined salt, see "Salt: Your Way to Health" by David Brownstein, MD. For alternatives to the use of medications to treat hypertension, see "The High Blood Pressure Hoax" by Sherry Rogers, MD. For references on what nature, not the medical community, has in mind for our salt intake, see "The Wellness Project."
Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www.MontecitoWellness.com