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Don’t be a Salty Dog

Why we should eat less salt

by Dave Bunnell

Monday, March 19, 2007

The American Medical Association wants you to eat less salt and they want the F.D.A. to put a limit on the amount of salt that can be put into most canned and processed food.

The average American consumes 4,000 to 6,000 mg a day—about twice the amount recommended for people who don’t have hypertension or pre-hypertension.

If you do have high blood pressure, you should keep your salt eating habits
down to about 1,500 mg a day which is slightly more than 1/2 teaspoon.

Even though it is widely known excessive amounts of salt in our diets are one of the major causes of high blood pressure and thus heart disease and death, the F.D.A. categorizes salt as “generally recognized as safe.” To regulate it, they would have to change its status to that of a “food additive.”

The Salt Institute and its paid scientists have feverishly lobbied against this, along with many friends in the canned food and fast food industries. We have to wonder why this is.

Does a can of Campbell’s Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup really need 2,290 mg of salt or does a McDonald’s quarter-pound cheeseburger have to have 1,450 mg (390 additional mg if you add a small bag of fries).

Can’t we add our own salt if we want more? The docs at AMA say any food items with more than 480 mg of salt should be avoided. The best way to do this is to simply not eat in fast food restaurants or eat prepackaged or canned food

In terms of our salt consumption, the ultimate power isn’t with the government or private industry, it’s with the consumer. If we stop eating processed, heavily salted foods, they will stop making them.

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