Posted on 03/24/2015 4:45:48 AM PDT by Perdogg
As Americans have become more aware over the years of nutrition-related health issues, salt has emerged as a major villain in many people’s minds. So much so that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes reducing the U.S. population’s consumption of sodium as “a national priority.” The CDC warns that too much salt can raise people’s blood pressure, putting them at greater risk for heart disease and stroke, among other evils.
But some skeptics believe the threat posed by salt is overblown. Indeed, some say too broad a drive against salt poses its own health risks.
Arguing in favor of a broad reduction in Americans’ salt consumption is Elliott Antman, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and president of the American Heart Association. Warning of the possible health consequences of an overzealous antisalt drive is David A. McCarron, an adjunct professor in the University of California-Davis Department of Nutrition and chairman-elect of the American Society for Nutrition’s Medical/Nutrition Council.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Thank you for posting this. I’ve read numerous studies coming out of medical journals in the last 6-9 months that have disproved “healthy eating” theories from the 70s and 80s. Salt seems to be the latest victim of the junk science back then. I’m hoping to see some new evidence to support salt as well as to finally cast sugar in the proper light as the biggest problem with our society’s eating habits over the last 30 years.
Salt does not matter...Your sodium/potassium pump does matter.....google it
Most of these studies treat salt as a poison. It is actually a necessary nutrient. In ancient times it was used as money because it was hard to get and you could die, or at least suffer serious problems if you didn’t get enough.
Can extreme amounts be a problem? Sure, so can too much of anything. The only question is how much is too much?
Yes. Totally — in the end it’s all about the heart, and the heart feels it when you’ve eaten too much sodium, provided that your listening. I would imagine that the ratio of too much salt related health issues to the health issue of too little salt is more than 100-1 the the U.S.
The answer is more salt for some people and less for others.
The dirty secret is that we are all individuals with unique health. What works for one person does not work for the next.
Even nature despises a one-size-fits-all approach. It is another example of the failure of liberalism to think we should all eat the same diet and then we will all be healthy.
It does not work with centralized government and it does not work with centralized medicine.
It is why the founding of this nation was such a massive success....it tapped into individuality and embraced it, fostered it and allowed it to flourish.
I love salt and use it liberally. My blood pressure is normal, sometimes bordering on low. Same for other members of my family. Which leads me to believe that problems with salt are inherent for certain body types.
No.
Back in the early '90s I read about the definitive study of salt use by humans. It was conclusive. Salt intake had no adverse effect on healthy people.
This was an exhaustive worldwide study sampling all groups. It confirmed what people have known for more than recorded history; salt is necessary to health, and the body will rid itself of excess salt using only what it needs.
Of course, this study barely saw the light of day. As with the rest of popular nutrition, we have allowed fanatics to turn us away from healthy eating habits.
I think the fact that it was one of the only (certainly the most common) foot preservatives around greatly added to its high cost in those days. If you wanted to store meat you better have salt.
Roman soldiers were once paid in salt, I have read. It is where the word salary comes from. Read that too, don’t know if it is true or not.
“... are inherent for certain body types”.
I agree. Both my Mom and husband’s high blood pressure were reduced to average BP’s by reducing salt (not eliminating it). I think it was just education in knowing that processed foods have a high amount of salt. Home cooked meals didn’t. The main “trick” was tasting the food prior to salting it. I know many people reach for the salt shaker without even tasting it beforehand.
For healthy people Rarestia, it probably is junk science. You body requires a set amount to function.
1500 mg of sodium equals about 3/4 teaspoons or 3.75 grams of salt per day is what the human body requires per day. I find that TO LOW. 2500-3000 mg is about right. Try putting salt on the top, it gives the taste your body likes, with out the entire dish being over salted.
Just like Cholesterol This is a NEW study.
Cholesterol : Dietary guidelines are wrong on saturated fats, claims cardiovascular researcher
http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Dietary-guidelines-are-wrong-on-saturated-fats-claims-cardiovascular-researcher
It’s been suppressed.
That food chart needs to go in the trash can. Carbs are the least; not the most you should be consuming. As long as there are big Bucks $$ to be made in diet foods, diet products, cholesterol drugs, BP drugs etc, you are not going to see much change.
It is hard to convince people that a CABS and sugar basically equals the same thing to your body. Cut the carbs you start to drop weight. This includes high sugar fruits. The use of a cross of type 2 diabetic and Paleo diets seem to work out the best.
We have forgotten the word MODERATION. In a SUPER SIZE that world.
Yet I still miss my granny’s lard and buttermilk biscuits and she has been gone over 30 yrs.
Actually, it is as simple as you say.
If a “dish” tastes too salty then, yes, it will not be something you should want. If a “dish” is not salty enough, apply salt, taste and apply salt again as warranted.
That said...cook fresh at home. Take the time, as our fore-bearers did, to learn recipe techniques that please our palates.
My grandmother’s chicken&dumplings (floating biscuit style) had very little added salt...just enough to reveal the several flavors. She would hover over the pot tasting and correcting for an entire Sunday.
Similarly, the Latin word salarium linked employment, salt, and soldiers, but the exact link is not very clear. The latest common theory is that the word soldier itself comes from the Latin sal dare (to give salt), but previous theories were on the same ground. Alternatively, the Roman historian Pliny the Elder stated as an aside in his Natural History's discussion of sea water, that "[I]n Rome. . .the soldier's pay was originally salt and the word salary derives from it...".[4] Others note that soldier more likely derives from the gold solidus, with which soldiers were known to have been paid, and maintain instead that the salarium was either an allowance for the purchase of salt[5] or the price of having soldiers conquer salt supplies and guard the Salt Roads (Via Salaria) that led to Rome.[6][7] Roman empire and medieval and pre-industrial Europe
Regardless of the exact connection, the salarium paid to Roman soldiers has defined a form of work-for-hire ever since in the Western world, and gave rise to such expressions as "being worth one's salt".[1]
People who like salt but are being cowed into thinking it’s dangerous should realize that they need just drink more water
everyday.
Sea salt doesn’t give you the critical iodine that the body needs.
I love salt, and used it much more than I should have. An old boyfriend said he was going to get a salt block for my kitchen counter and I could lick it every time I walked past.
Salt naturally contains more than just sodium. Table salt has had the other trace minerals removed as they are valuable, so all that remains is sodium. I’ve heard that when we are craving salt, we are really needing the trace minerals that we aren’t getting from table salt.
Once I tried Real Salt I never went back. Even my husband, with the least discerning palate you could imagine, could tell the difference in taste. Now, I use it liberally but no where near what I did prior to the switch.
We use Real Salt, Himalayan Pink Salt, or Celtic Sea Salt. I did have some nagging concerns over the fact that they aren’t iodized, but all have some iodine in them. I may have made a big mistake last year when I took kelp supplements for 2 weeks to make sure I was getting enough iodine. I’ll never know if that tipped the scales or not, but was absolutely miserable for 4 months following that until I was recently diagnosed with Graves disease. Obviously, I was getting enough iodine without the kelp. I have had the same symptoms, though less intense, for years so who knows.
The CDC, FDA & Department of Agriculture have lied to the American public so much, that everything they say should at least be taken with a grain of salt.
WE have recently seen, finally, the turn around in the debate about fats and carbs. Even though 40 years of science had pointed in the right direction, the momentum against fats and pro-carb was considerable. Too many scientific debates are being handled this way..
Thanks. That is what I remember from reading years ago. Research the word, left, and see what you can find. The history and usage of a word has always interested me. Thanks for your help.
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