Comments on: The new salt study

By: manuel

manuel — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:27:27 +0000

very simple,dont eat processed foods-ever ! let the almighty food companies ruin their products by salting them 2 death. dont buy them.same goes 4 sugar & transfats-dont buy them,period ! u demand it someone wil supply it.

By: Cathy Richards

Cathy Richards — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:53:18 +0000

PS. I only bought the canned soup to 1) have on hand in case of emergencies (freezer fails, or very ill), and 2) so I could have the label so I could hassle Heart&Stroke about it.

Usually I make all my own soup from scratch and freeze it for convenience.

By: Cathy Richards

Cathy Richards — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:50:43 +0000

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada give a “Health Check” symbol to products that meet their categories IF the product’s company pays for the symbol, which costs thousands of dollars. Per product. So really only multinationals can afford this system (much like David Katz’s proposed Nu-Val system).

A Campbell’s soup I bought recently had the Health Check symbol. This meant it had to have no more than 480 mg of sodium per 250 mL and per on-pack serving. The nutrition label said, sure enough, 480 mg sodium in a 250 mL serving.

But the can held 540 mL, or 2.16 servings. Who in their right mind would serve 46% of the can (250 mL) to themselves, 46% of the can to another person, and chuck out the remaining 8% of the can? Campbell’s would I guess, because otherwise a 1/2 can serving would exceed the sodium limits of the Health Check program.

I wrote the H&S Assoc of Canada a letter. Got a standard response, so wrote back a second time and got a practical response.

We must be vigilant about food labels and health claims.

By: Matt Sachs

Matt Sachs — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:44:45 +0000

I think as Americans, we have a tendency to view salt as the only thing that can add flavor to our foods. We neglect things such as fresh herbs and other spices that give our lives flavor, and contain helpful phytochemicals rather than having a detrimental effect on our health. That is not to say that salt is bad; all good things in moderation. I think Michael Pollan makes a wonderful point when he says, “we vote with our forks three times a day”, and choosing these heavily processed, overly-salted foods over fresh fruits, veggies, and other ingredients is voting for something that will shorten our lives, constrict our food options, and put good, hard-working farmers out of work.

By: Jill, The Veggie Queen

Jill, The Veggie Queen — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:07:53 +0000

The one message that I think is not being promoted with all this “reduce the sodium” studies, reviews, etc. is that by eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, one can have better potassium-sodium balance which really changes the health equation.

Now, on to the vegetable education which is what so many people really need. They won’t eat food that seems unfamiliar so here I go again. I have my life’s work cut out for me, and that’s good.

By: ET Addison

ET Addison — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:36:03 +0000

Computer models are not ‘studies’. They are not research. They add NO new data to the science.

They are mostly PR generators.

They reflect the assumptions of the modelers, their pre-conceived notions, and often, their desire to produce results. (If this ‘model’ had shown zero effect, do think it would have been PR’d so heavily? “Cutting salt would have NO benefit, says the latest study.” Nope, they would simply tinker with the numbers until they got something like ‘millions to ve saved.’)

Note too, this talks about population-wide effects from an OVERALL reduction in salt. That ASSUMES that some people would reduce their salt consumption by a few grams per week, and therefore would NOT get a disease they were otherwise destined to.

I know of no actual clinical data that supports such a notion.

Data, in real humans, is very sparse and contradictory, which suggests any effect — if there is one — will be tiny. Not ‘millions saved’.

This is why people are starting to ignore medical politicians like this. Public policy based on a lot of moralizing and wishful thinking. And because somebody thinks the ‘know’ something, never mind the data.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:16:55 +0000

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By: PageRank Check

PageRank Check — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:41:18 +0000

gooooooooood