Comments on: Much to-do and to do about salt

By: Dr. Saul

Dr. Saul — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:12:43 +0000

Susanne, what exactly is “eating naturally”? I ask as salt has been used all over the world as a preservative for foods for thousands of years. One might argue that to “eat naturally” is to preserve foods, as in most climate zones of the world, meat and vegetables are not readily available year round. Looking at the recipes for preserved foods from my great-great and great-great-great grandparents, I’m not sure I’m convinced that we are consuming more salts and sugars these days than they did then (at least during the winter months).

By: Sheila

Sheila — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:57:35 +0000

I am a big fan of simple, and no genius about reading all the studies. What I do know is when I quit eating processed foods/restaurant foods, and returned to basic fresh foods with no added salt in cooking or at the table, I stopped having swelling in my lower legs at the end of the day, and my blood pressure reduced. That’s enough evidence for me to continue along this track.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:14:48 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by issresearch: RT @marionnestle Much to-do and to do about salt: One of the great oddities of nutrition that public health guidelines http://cli.gs/94uSB...

By: susanne

susanne — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:46:51 +0000

humans might naturally regulate their sodium intake if they were eating naturally. but a chicken sandwich from panera has 2200mg of sodium. so according tot his study, a person would naturally steer clear of sodium for the rest of the day after eating this? i doubt it. they will be back for more the next day after eating some rice-a-roni with 690mg of sodium, canned vegetables with 300mg of sodium, and some pre-cooked chicken with 500+mg sodium. that’s if they “cook” dinner themselves. if they eat out twice a day (not unheard of), there is no way that people will naturally steer themselves away from sodium. i am not buying it.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:45:21 +0000

http://pda.physorg.com/_news175270777.html

Humans naturally regulate their sodium intake, rendering government intervention useless.

It’s a study that has angered nutrition policy advocates, but adjunct UC-Davis nutrition professor said it is backed by sound data and that he expects such a left-field finding to get heat.

The study concluded that the human body makes sure sodium levels remain within a certain range at all times, similar to maintaining body temperature.

“Our sodium intake is regulated by the brain, and your brain won’t let you go very far outside of that boundary.”

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:30:19 +0000

My Doctor turned me onto ‘Gray Seasalt’. He said that it is salt in its natual form with all of the trace minerals that are processed out of the white table salt or even white sea salt we buy in the stores. I read that the minerals that are in salt get processed and sold to various drug companies among other businesses.

By: Anthr0

Anthr0 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:29:28 +0000

I’m a teensy confused, Marion. If one doesn’t eat ANY processed food (I don’t) and is careful with the shaker and the “pinching” while cooking, is that still too much? I’ve been working with 1/2 tsp/day in my kitchen–is that still too much? My BP dropped dramatically with weight loss, but I still take a tiny dose of diuretic and would love to conquer the BP. Odd thing–as a child I loved to lick salt off my hand and dumped it liberally on everything–in secret of course, as my mother was rightly alarmed by this!

By: tmana

tmana — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:59:02 +0000

If you’ve not read it, I’ll refer you to Boynton, McCarty, and Moore, The Salt Solution (Avery, 2001, ISBN 1-58333-085-2). While they blame sodium for almost every one of the big ten killers (and laud potassium as the sodium-slayer), the book is well-referenced and refers to some (older) large-scale studies including INTERSALT and DASH. I’d thought they referred also to the DASH-Sodium and Nurses’ studies, but upon inspection it looks like I’m confusing that work with Willett’s Eat, Drink and Be Healthy.

Perhaps the bigger issue in social salt consumption is our reliance on pre-prepared, packaged, and preserved foods — many of which traditionally required salt for preservation, and others of which are salted to disguise the loss of flavor in the mass-produced and long-stored item. By making one’s meals from fresh produce and using pre-prepared sauces sparingly, one can drastically reduce one’s sodium consumption.

By: Hannah G

Hannah G — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:56:19 +0000

Thanks, Marion, for spotlighting the salt issue. I definitely think this is one of those policy vs. individual behavior change issues. It is a lot easier to cut salt out of our processed foods than it is to ask people to eat less salt. They have little control over their salt intake if a large part of their diet includes processed foods. We need a policy to reduce the salt in processed foods, but congrats to ConAgra for being proactive (not that I like ConAgra, but still it’s a step in the right direction).