Tag: sodium

The New York Times recently had a piece questioning the idea that salt leads to increased blood pressure, hypertension and the risk of premature death.

The piece is by Gary Taubes, a science writer with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is the author of the book, “Why We Get Fat: And What to do About It.”  Taubes says the evidence that high sodium intake causes problems is weak. Instead, he suggests, the reverse may be true. I haven’t read the book, though I did order it for closer inspection.

But the NYT piece does not, address or dispute the research cited by another author, former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler in his book, “The End of Overeating.” That research shows that salty foods make us crave more salty foods, contributing to our overeating. It’s why, as they used to say, “You can’t eat just one.”

That addictive property is one reason why I won’t take this as a license to go hog wild on salt. Another is that it’s in so much food, that it’s hard to imagine anyone really being salt-starved today. Finally, there is this: I feel bloated, fat, and just plainly not good when I’ve demolished that basket of tortilla chips.

The Food and Drug Administration’s efforts to curb American’s unhealthy consumption of salt landed it in Fox News’ crosshairs, according to a media watchdog group.

Shhhh. Apparently the restaurant industry is reducing salt.

Why that should be something to keep on the DL is aptly covered in a Chicago Tribune piece. Campbell’s Soup’s sales declines in recent years have been attributed to its public stance on salt reduction. (Of course, it could also be that there are lots of great new competitors out there with excellent soups.)

The Trib says the restaurants are doing it because they don’t want to get caught by anticipated federal rules requiring nutritional information to be posted on the menu.

Whatever the notion, let’s cheer. Given the addictive qualities of highly-salted food, we don’t need a burger that swallows an entire day’s recommended sodium intake.