Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comAn advisory panel is encouraging the government to recommend that Americans reduce their salt intake - even though they acknowledge that it won't be easy.
You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
35 Calif. babies tested for TB exposureUN says Fukushima radiation doses below norms"Pre-diabetes," diabetes rising among U.S. teensScientists turn skin cells into beating heart muscle1 in 3 developmentally delayed babies untreatedFake drugs impede progress made in war on malariaAbstinence-only sex ed defies common senseSigmoidoscopy an option for colon cancer screeningDunkin Donuts going zero grams trans fat Bagged lettuce recall expands across nation
Leave a Comment:
Every time a "salt is evil" article comes out, I turn to Alton Brown's wisdom:
"Sodium works with potassium to generate the electricity that fuels our nervous system. Even though there have been countless medical studies in the last twenty years trying to condemn salt, all they've been able to prove is that if you have two healthy kidneys, you have access to plenty of water, and as long as you don't have a genetic predisposition toward sodium-related hypertension, you can eat all the salt you want.
The tongue detects four flavors: sweet, bitter, sour and salty. Now a lot of things taste sweet, right? And a lot of things, most of them toxic, taste bitter. Sour? Plenty of things. But only one thing tastes salty: salt. Now, think of this: this tongue evolved the way it did to taste food and keep us alive by telling us what to eat. If salt was bad for us, would this thing have evolved liking salt? Well would it? No."
It's not a matter of salt being evil---too much of anything isn't good for you. It's common sense, so why must people undermine the health effects of excessive lifestyles?
The body works as a balance of electrolytes. If you consume TOO much salt without drinking water to balance it out, it IS detrimental. However, the magic of salt is that if you consume it in excess BUT ALSO drink more water to balance it out, there are no negative effects whatsoever. Those with hypertension have to be more careful, obviously, but the majority of us are just fine.
The bottom line is you can eat as much salt as you want as long as you're drinking enough water. Period.
Sorry but this is not correct. It is not water that balances salt, it is potassium which most folks are woefully lacking. Potassium from fresh fruits, vegetables (with no salt).
If you look at nature, that's what our bodies are designed to eat, no foods loaded with salt. That why our bodies with hundreds of thousands of years of design are reacting against the onslaught of all the salt added. In the last few hundred years, salts have preserved foods but only that which is used in very small amounts.
Our ancestors ate mostly fruit, grains, and vegetables with meat (game, fish) in very small amounts. Please don't tell me our bodies are ready for a daily diet of deli meats, salty bread & cereals, soups (terrible) and ALL vegetables, Pizza, all prepared foods (what most people ONLY EAT.)
SO STOP WITH THE JUST DRINK WATER CRAP - IT IS TOTALLY IGNORANT OF THE FACTS.
That explanation is entirely ignorant. It's like saying, "if 'x' wasn't good, would we do it?"... you've taken something and said 'we like it so it is good' and that is completely incorrect; 'x' could be rape, murder, salt intake, fat intake, hard-drugs intake... bad things. I got an 'A' in university level human-physiology by the way and I know enough about ethics to say that 'if it feels good it is good' is NOT how it works.
Do these people really think their recommendation will change anything?
Yes, & it already has.
Rather than revising guidelines that tell the consumer she/he is really, really eating too much salt, let's set a limit to the amount of sodium (mostly of the sodium chloride variety) that's in most of the processed food so many of us eat. Lowering sodium intake is not just a matter of avoiding the salt shaker. There's already too much of it in 99% of the pre-prepared and processed foods we eat. But food companies know that adding more salt makes tasteless food tastier, attracts more buyers and even helps stops bacteria from growing, so they can add as much salt as they want to. To reduce healthcare costs, let's make the food we eat healthier, duh.
It isn't hard; just don't add salt to ANYTHING. And be careful of chips, etc. You'll get plenty anyway, especially if you eat processed food. Once you do this, it doesn't taste good anymore - a tiny bit ruins the true flavor of food.
Potato chips, pretzels and Ham oh my...
unless all you eat is fruits@vegetables,everything else is loaded with salt, and since i'm not a veggie, please stop telling me not to eat to much salt, but just how in the hell not to eat to much salt, better yet, make all these food companies reduce the salt in there foods.
I am an entirely healthy vegan (I don't have to work out because I do manuel labour & walk around the block daily with my resuce-dog) I support veganism being made law and it's totally immoral to claim we don't eat enough seafood: when the food is conscious, as in the case of most seafood, it is immoral to destroy that consciousness for food. Plants aren't conscious & they should be the only source of food (albeit some minerals/supplements may come from non-life sources, conscious or otherwise, & that's fine).
Oh yeah, and thanks for the article other than the animal-product recommendations; I really will be more conscious of my salt intake now... I just ate some delicious couscous with olive oil & I 'see' now that I probably ate too much salt.
Toby, no joke; I watched a Mythbusters episode that did a scientific study of plants. Proven: plants grow better with positive comments and treatment than they did with negative "vibes". My only point; even if you consume "all plant" products, they all have microbes and other small "critters" by nature- even our own bodies! Do they have any less reason to live than animals?
As for it being made law: sorry but that's a no-go. There is no provision for the banning of consumption of animal products in the US (or any other law enforcing a certain diet on the population). It is fine for you to feel the way you do about consciousness, and I would support to the end of time your right to that opinion. However, writing a law to force that idea on a country (whatever country you are living in) goes a bit too far....
Interesting article by the WSJ re-posted here on this subject. http://bit.ly/8YghW7