Time to end the war on salt
But if the U.S. does conquer salt, what will we gain? Bland french fries, for sure. But a healthy nation? Not necessarily.
This week a meta-analysis of seven studies involving a total of 6,250 subjects in the American Journal of Hypertension found no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk for heart attacks, strokes or death in people with normal or high blood pressure. In May European researchers publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the less sodium that study subjects excreted in their urine—an excellent measure of prior consumption—the greater their risk was of dying from heart disease. These findings call into question the common wisdom that excess salt is bad for you, but the evidence linking salt to heart disease has always been tenuous.
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Well Mayor Bloomberg, maybe you can get back to doing something that you’re good at…..like plowing the streets for example? oh wait..
ted c on July 23, 2011 at 4:14 PM
More liberal nonsense done the tubes.
Fire Bloomberg.
darwin on July 23, 2011 at 4:15 PM
Anyone with even a passing knowledge of physiology knew this already.
Y-not on July 23, 2011 at 4:16 PM
They did this with eggs as well.
I think they were good for you, then bad for you, and now they’re good for you.
INC on July 23, 2011 at 4:20 PM
The science is settled. These are just salt-deniers.
pedestrian on July 23, 2011 at 4:21 PM
I never gave up my salt. Not gonna, never will, and I have gobs stashed in case they ban it! That goes for light bulbs also dc!
L
letget on July 23, 2011 at 4:22 PM
libs said to ban ‘salt’ and obama thought they said to ban ‘salaries’….so he’s doing that.
ted c on July 23, 2011 at 4:24 PM
How long before the CDC declares the oceans off limits?
You know, salt.
madmonkphotog on July 23, 2011 at 4:27 PM
Check the origin of salary.
Then there are salt blocks for cattle. And salt licks for wild critters.
Now SA allows humans to have salt again.
Caststeel on July 23, 2011 at 4:27 PM
Sorry, ted c. Great minds,etc.
Caststeel on July 23, 2011 at 4:29 PM
It’s a quagmire!
Butter, same deal, with the added scare of their original preferred substitute for butter being transfat laden margarine.
Then there’s the guy who lost weight and improved all his health measures eating nothing but Hostess and Little Debbie snack cakes. He just counted calories and kept it to a that of regular weight loss diet (I think he could have a Twinkie every 3 hours or so).
zmdavid on July 23, 2011 at 4:37 PM
Bloomblob hardest hit.
slickwillie2001 on July 23, 2011 at 4:43 PM
I was a subscriber from back in the 60′s to when Scientific American went off the rails into social issues (which includes AGW). Last time I looked at it, it was a complete rag. If this is the beginning of a return to sanity, I heartily salute it. But there’s a long, long, long, long way to go.
cthulhu on July 23, 2011 at 4:57 PM
“Michael Bloomberg Institutes Emergency Ban on Sale of Scientific American in New York”
eeyore on July 23, 2011 at 4:57 PM
O’Sullivan’s Law
slickwillie2001 on July 23, 2011 at 4:58 PM
My father had very high blood pressure. The doctor told him to cut the salt. He was eating lots of salt. As soon as he did, his blood pressure returned to normal. To keep it down, he avoids all salt, not even eating normal bread or anything that contains salt as an ingredient.
Mind you, he was in his late ’60s when the high blood pressure problem arose and he had been eating lots of salt his whole life. But eventually, it caught up to him.
keep the change on July 23, 2011 at 5:28 PM
The point is, if you are healthy, salt is not “bad for you.” If you are not healthy – and your story does not demonstrate that it was salt intake alone that made your dad unhealthy (or that caused his high blood pressure) – then follow doctor’s orders. I’d be curious to know if he’s also on medication and if he lost weight along with reducing salt intake.
I spent a good amount of time researching dietary things a couple of years ago when my hubby needed to bring down his blood sugar (and adjust his lipids) and I am convinced that the salt thing is out of whack. The recommendations for salt, even those published at the Mayo Clinic which is really a great resource for most health things, are impossible to hit. And that was with no added salt and very little processed foods in our diet. When I investigated the origins of the salt recommendations, I found they came largely from international health organizations… so in my opinion they are skewed to what folks who live in Africa and other underdeveloped regions do.
Y-not on July 23, 2011 at 5:41 PM
Appears it is an individual thing and likely best that we not make broad stroke comments about the use of salt for the entire population. Hmmmm I wonder too did your father change anything else? I bet he exercised more and ate less fat. Hmmm. Causation?
CW on July 23, 2011 at 6:03 PM
Hey, Moochelle, let’s have an Executive Order regulating salt in our foods.
petefrt on July 23, 2011 at 6:12 PM
Last time I saw any stats on it (2-3 years ago), they were saying only somewhere between 20-40% of people are “salt sensitive”. In 60-80% of population, salt consumption makes no sig diff.
petefrt on July 23, 2011 at 6:15 PM
Thanks Pete.
Seems this selling of salt as bad is bad in itself.
CW on July 23, 2011 at 6:18 PM
My father has never taken medication. He was healthy his whole life, and he’s healthy now at 79. But he was a huge salt eater. He would put salt on everything. As soon as he eliminated the salt, he blood pressure dropped and he was back to normal.
keep the change on July 23, 2011 at 6:43 PM
Okay, that boggles the mind. How the heck did he get enough protein? I mean, he could be eating a multivitamin, but he would still need protein.
Count to 10 on July 23, 2011 at 6:47 PM
Hmm, well, I have high blood pressure and my doctor advised me to avoid using extra salt. Unfortunately, even those with an intimate knowledge of physiology don’t know this, or, perhaps, believe it. I’m going to take a copy of this article to my doctor at my next check-up to get his take on it.
Knott Buyinit on July 23, 2011 at 6:51 PM
Heh.
Tim_CA on July 23, 2011 at 7:15 PM
Here’s the CNN story he only did it for 10 weeks:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html
zmdavid on July 23, 2011 at 7:22 PM
Paint me nutty, but when it’s one of only four things your tongue can taste, methinks it’s not too bad for you.
John the Libertarian on July 23, 2011 at 7:30 PM
A former neighbor and close friend is a cardiologist. He told me (this was a while back) that eating lots of salt AND drinking lots of liquid continuously flushes out the system.
Sounds good enough for me.
I’m a salt person (as opposed to sugar). Dessert or green olives? I’ll take the olives every time.
MaggiePoo on July 24, 2011 at 12:06 AM