Kristin Wartman: Change in Season: Why Salt Doesn't Deserve Its Bad Rap

For something that's so often mixed with anti-caking agents, salt takes a lot of lumps in the American imagination. Like fat, people tend to think of it as an unnecessary additive -- something to be avoided by seeking out processed foods that are "free" of it. But also like fat, salt is an essential component of the human diet -- one that has been transformed into unhealthy forms by the food industry.

Historically, though, salt was prized. Its reputation can be found in phrases like, "Worth one's salt," meaning, "Worth one's pay," since people were often paid in salt and the word itself is derived from the Latin salarium, or salary.

Those days are long over. Doctors and dietitians, along with the USDA dietary guidelines, recommend eating a diet low in sodium to prevent high blood pressure, risk of cardiovascular disease, and stroke; and doctors have been putting their patients on low-salt diets since the 1970s. But a new study, published in the May 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), found that low-salt diets actually increase the risk of death from heart attack and stroke -- and in fact don't prevent high blood pressure.

via huffingtonpost.com

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Campbell’s Soup Has a Math Problem | Fooducate

Here’s an interesting read from the Consumerist Blog. Several moms from New Jersey are suing Campbell’s for misleading labeling.

You’d think that the soup on the right has 25% less sodium than the one on the left, but in fact, they both have 480mg. So why the big bold statement? If you read the fine print, you’ll realize that this is 25% less than other regular soups.

To Campbell’s credit, they have been reducing sodium in their soups in the past few years and plan to continue reductions.

But stating “25% Less Sodium” or “30% more fiber” in bold text and then adding a tiny qualifier at the bottom “compared to regular” is the kind of sleazy behavior we all hate as consumers.

And 480mg of sodium is still quite a high count for a single cup of soup.

via fooducate.com

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Medical News: Cut Daily Salt Intake to 1,500 Mg, AHA Says - in Cardiovascular, Hypertension from MedPage Today

Daily intake of salt should be limited to 1,500 mg for all Americans, according to an advisory statement from the American Heart Association (AHA).

"The 2020 goal of the American Heart Association is to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20% while continuing to reduce deaths from [cardiovascular disease] and stroke by 20%," Lawrence J. Appel, MD, of Johns Hopkins, and colleagues wrote online in Circulation.

Two key components of improving cardiovascular health are population-wide lowering of blood pressure below 120/80 and reducing sodium chloride intake below 1,500 mg per day, observed AHA president Appel.

Action Points  --->

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• Note that the American Heart Association states that two of the key metrics for ideal cardiovascular health are a blood pressure of 120/80 mm Hg and sodium consumption of 1500 mg/day.
  

Note further that in this advisory, the AHA reviews the evidence for the benefits of reduced sodium intake and issues a call to action.

The evidence linking salt intake with blood pressure -- and the major adverse outcomes of heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease -- is "impressive," wrote the authors of the advisory.

That evidence includes more than 50 trials assessing the blood pressure effects of salt, as well as a meta-analysis showing that cutting salt intake by about 1,800 mg per day lowered blood pressure by 5 mm Hg systolic and 2.7 mm Hg diastolic.

Various studies also have compared the benefits and outcomes of a number of different sodium reduction goals. Notably, reducing salt consumption also can help prevent the blood pressure increases that come with age, ultimately affecting 90% of adults.

via medpagetoday.com

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What Does the New Food Safety Law Mean for You? | FoodSafety.gov

Just before Christmas, the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which President Obama signed into law on January 4, 2011. Here’s a quick look at some of the provisions in the new law:

• Issuing recalls: For the first time, FDA will have the authority to order a recall of food products. Up to now, with the exception of infant formula, the FDA has had to rely on food manufacturers and distributors to recall food voluntarily.
• Conducting inspections: The law calls for more frequent inspections and for those inspections to be based on risk. Foods and facilities that pose a greater risk to food safety will get the most attention
• Importing food: The law provides significant enhancements to FDA's ability to oversee food produced in foreign countries and imported into the United States. Also, FDA has the authority to prevent a food from entering this country if the facility has refused U.S. inspection.
• Preventing problems: Food facilities must have a written plan that spells out the possible problems that could affect the safety of their products. The plan would outline steps that the facility would take to help prevent those problems from occurring. 

via foodsafety.gov

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Hospital meals make it difficult to control blood sugars, KevinMD.com

My mom doesn’t take any diabetes medicine.  She keeps her blood sugars normal through a combination of common sense and careful carbohydrate consumption.

A few months ago, she had to be hospitalized for what she calls a “minor procedure.”  The procedure went fine, but not the food.  The first meal they brought her consisted of breaded fish (frozen), mashed potatoes (instant), corn (canned), a dinner roll (frozen), and tea (2 sugar packets on tray).  “If I ate that, my blood sugars would have gone through the roof!” she told me.  She drank the tea, and called my dad, who arrived shortly with chopped salad, roasted peppers, and meat loaf.  This week’s post is about hospital food, if you can call it that.  You are not going to believe what it’s like to order meals for hospitalized patients.

Let’s imagine, for example, a diabetic guy in the intensive care unit.  His blood sugars have been completely out of control, up and down, up and down.  He is recovering slowly from a very serious pneumonia, and is only now beginning to eat again.  The nurse asks if I’d like to order an 1800 kcal ADA diet, which I do not.

An “1800 kcal ADA” diet means 1800 calories total each day, in accordance with the recommendations of the American Diabetic Association.  Their recommended diet is loaded (and I am not exaggerating here) with processed carbohydrate items guaranteed to make it nearly impossible to control one’s blood sugar.  No thanks.

via kevinmd.com

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25 Surprisingly Salty Processed Foods - Health.com

The average person in the U.S. consumes 3,500 milligrams of sodium a day. That’s equivalent to almost 9 grams of salt, or nearly 2 teaspoonfuls—way more than the 2,300 milligrams per day suggested by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

But the majority of excess salt, or 77%, isn’t spooned into your food—it comes from processed foods.

The FDA recently announced a plan to gradually scale back on salt in processed foods, which may be the end of the line for super salty products.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for excess sodium and adjust your intake accordingly. Check out these 25 hidden salt traps you can find lurking in the grocery store.

via health.com

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