Free Republic

A surprising new report questions public health efforts to get Americans to sharply cut back on salt, saying it’s not clear whether eating super-low levels is worth the struggle... --snip-- “We’re not saying we shouldn’t be lowering excessive salt intake,” said Dr. Brian Strom of the University of Pennsylvania, who led the IOM committee. But below 2,300 mg a day, “there is simply a lack of data that shows it is beneficial.” The average American consumes more than 3,400 mg of sodium a day, equivalent to 1 ½ teaspoons. Current U.S. dietary guidelines say most people should limit that to...

In Memoriam: William Van Cleave, 77 by Pamela J. Johnson The former professor of international relations in USC Dornsife is remembered as a Cold War expert with a warm heart. William Van Cleave, former senior adviser to President Ronald Reagan, the United States Department of Defense, Department of State, and former professor of international relations in USC Dornsife, has died. He was 77. Van Cleave died of natural causes at his Idyllwild, Calif., home on March 15. Professor of international relations and director of the Strategic Studies Program in USC Dornsife from 1967 to 1987, Van Cleave had vast...

On the heels of a study linking sugary drinks to 25,000 U.S. deaths a year, new research suggests salty food is even more dangerous.The new study, by the same Harvard research team, linked excessive salt consumption to nearly 2.3 million cardiovascular deaths worldwide in 2010. One in 10 Americans dies from eating too much salt, the researchers found.“The burden of sodium is much higher than the burden of sugar-sweetened beverages,” said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, an epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health and author of both the salt and sugary drink studies. “That’s because sugar-sweetened beverages are just one...

Enlarge Image Don't pass the salt. The food flavoring prompts generic T cells like these to specialize into TH17 cells that stimulate autoimmune diseases, new findings suggest. Credit: N. Yosef et al., Nature 495 (6 March) © 2013 Nature Publishing Group For decades, doctors have been admonishing us to cut back on salt to reduce the odds of a heart attack or stroke. Now, there may be a new reason to avoid the seasoning: Studies on rodents and cultured cells, reported today, reveal that dietary salt might promote autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease. The...

(CNSNews.com) – First lady Michelle Obama is praising what has often been one of the left’s biggest targets, Walmart, for helping to fight obesity and “food deserts” in the United States. “At Walmart, you can believe that as America’s largest retailer, you have an obligation that goes far beyond the bottom line,” Obama said Thursday at a Walmart in Springfield, Mo. “You know that every day, with the products you sell, you’re helping parents get by on a budget -- which is what everybody in this country is trying to do. You’re helping kids get the nutrition they need to...

The government should ban high-sugar cereals such as Coco Pops and other foods that are contributing to an obesity epidemic among British children, the shadow health secretary has urged. Regulations limiting the amount of sugar, salt and fat in processed foods should be considered if the food industry does not take action itself, according to Labour’s Andy Burnham, who has begun a consultation on how to tackle obesity. Burnham highlighted the case of breakfast cereals, saying many aimed at children are more than one-third sugar by weight. …

For decades table salt has been on a healthy heart’s most wanted list. Believing it’s responsible for skyrocketing blood pressure, Americans have banned salt from tables and stripped it from recipes. But new research says salt just might deserve a bit of a reprieve. The link between salt and blood pressure is thought to date back to the 1940s when Duke University researcher Walter Kempner, M.D., became famous for using salt restriction as a means to treat people with high blood pressure. During the next few decades, studies confirmed Kempner’s theory that reducing salt could help reduce hypertension. A Controversy...

While Jimmy Terry fights for his life at a hospital in Modesto, his uncle Robert will not be charged with felony assault, as the District Attorney’s Office deemed he acted in self-defense when he shot his nephew in the stomach from 15 feet away Sunday. Sheriff’s investigators are aware Jimmy Blake Terry, 25, suffered significant injuries and is expected to have an extended stay in the hospital, Calaveras County sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Hewitt said, adding the hospital has not released any further information. According to sheriff’s reports, Terry, who is wanted for parole violations, confronted his uncle Robert at a...

ORBE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Nestle SA and General Mills Inc will cut sugar and salt in the children's breakfast cereals they jointly market outside North America, the latest attempt by major food companies to respond to health concerns. The two have been in a joint venture since 1990 to sell Nestle-brand cereals such as Cheerios in more than 140 countries outside the United States and Canada, markets which account for about half total global cereal sales of some $25 billion. They say they will reformulate 20 cereal brands popular with children and teenagers by 2015, boosting wholegrains and calcium and...

Shedding pounds may be a better way to promote cardiovascular health than avoiding the saltshakerThe latest news reports about salt are enough to make a parent ponder a household ban on pizza and cold cuts. A study published last week in Pediatrics found that children eat, on average, 3.4 grams of sodium daily—more than twice the amount recommended for adults by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). News outlets, including the Associated Press and USA Today, explained that, according to the study, the quarter of American kids who eat the most sodium are twice to three times as likely to develop...

A new teen fad called "the salt and ice challenge" is drawing crowds on social networking sites and YouTube. But like other teen "challenges," it has proven to be dangerous. And health-care experts are telling parents to talk to their kids about the risks. In Pittsburgh, a 12-year-old boy will spend the summer recovering as a result of having a large cross burned into his back by his twin brother and a pal as part of this newest challenge, according to the Post-Gazette. He ended up in the West Penn Burn Center for treatment. For the challenge, tweens and teens...

Check this out. It’s the “Bug-A-Salt” housefly shotgun. Eradicate pesky houseflies with ease with this gun that requires no batteries, and simply uses table salt for ammunition. Brilliant! I’m getting one.

It has just been brought to my attention that because of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties which the US is apparently a signatory to, the UN will consider us bound to any treaty, including the ATT, that Obummer signs.  The Senate DOES NOT have to ratify it.  I couldn't believe it when I heard it so I researched it and found the treaty and sure enough that is exactly what it says.  Please read Article 12 of this treaty even if you don't read the rest of it.  Also watch the video from Dick Morris, he also...

I searched FR and found no notice of the recall, and sure have not seen it on the news. I know I've been hit and miss due to a lot of health issues this past year, but we do watch the nightly news. And anything this big would have caught my attention because I keep Maalox in the house for occasional mild stomach upset/reflux when I eat something that disagrees with my stomach. Went to buy a bottle of Maalox and tried several different stores and types, finally one of the gals at a local Kroger's said Maalox had been...

THE first time I questioned the conventional wisdom on the nature of a healthy diet, I was in my salad days, almost 40 years ago, and the subject was salt. Researchers were claiming that salt supplementation was unnecessary after strenuous exercise, and this advice was being passed on by health reporters. When I spent the better part of a year researching the state of the salt science back in 1998 — already a quarter century into the eat-less-salt recommendations — journal editors and public health administrators were still remarkably candid in their assessment of how flimsy the evidence was implicating...

[snip] Bread and rolls are the No. 1 source of salt in the American diet, accounting for more than twice as much sodium as salty junk food like potato chips. That surprising finding comes in a government report released Tuesday that includes a list of the top 10 sources of sodium. Salty snacks actually came in at the bottom of the list compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Potato chips, pretzels, and popcorn - which we think of as the saltiest foods in our diet - are only No. 10," said CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden. Breads...

Has the tide turned for salt in 2012? Salt faces regular demonization from the media, lawmakers, and food police, with the hyperbolic Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) even calling it the “deadly white powder you already snort.” But as cardiologist-turned-chef Michael S. Fenster points out in The Atlantic, studies have not conclusively shown that a reduction in dietary sodium equates with a reduction in hypertension or its resulting effects. Fenster also notes that while this theory “makes for great slogans, off the cuff advice, and lazy recommendations,” it “also makes for poor publicly mandated policy.” Big Apple...

In 2011, half a dozen medical studies showed the health benefits of salt or revealed the significant risks of low-sodium diets...

Cutting back on salt may not be as beneficial for your heart as once thought, a new study suggests. While a diet low in salt reduces blood pressure, it increases the levels of cholesterol, fat and hormones in the blood that are known to increase the risk of heart disease, the study found. Overall, the good and bad consequences of a low-salt diet may cancel each other out, so the diet has relatively little effect on the development of disease, said study researcher Dr. Niels Graudal, of Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's decision to stay out of the Republican presidential race means that the American people will be spared months of discussion about his ample waistline and the bad example it sets. Nonetheless, with first lady Michelle Obama urging everyone to get moving, obesity remains a political hot potato, or maybe a tater tot. Below, a helping of skepticism about the causes of Americans' poor eating habits - and the efficacy of political fixes. 5 myths of healthy eating...