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Salt, we misjudged you
New York Times ^ | June 3, 2012 | by Gary Taubes

Posted on 06/03/2012 7:37:05 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

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 salt as the cause of hypertension.

“You can say without any shadow of a doubt,” as I was told then by Drummond Rennie, an editor for The Journal of the American Medical Association, that the authorities pushing the eat-less-salt message had “made a commitment to salt education that goes way beyond the scientific facts.”

While, back then, the evidence merely failed to demonstrate that salt was harmful, the evidence from studies published over the past two years actually suggests that restricting how much salt we eat can increase our likelihood of dying prematurely. Put simply, the possibility has been raised that if we were to eat as little salt as the U.S.D.A. and the C.D.C. recommend, we’d be harming rather than helping ourselves.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: diet; foodnazis; garytaubes; health; healthnazis; hypertension; nannystate; nutrition; salt; science; sodium; taubes
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1 posted on 06/03/2012 7:37:18 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
If you don't eat salt, and you don't eat fat... you will die.

It's been that way for tens of thousands of years.

Overdo either, and you might die. But do without salt, fat, or water, and you die pretty darn quick.

/johnny

2 posted on 06/03/2012 7:41:27 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
I was just diagnosed with Hoshimoto’s thyroid disorder. My edconologist said there is an absolute corollary with the increase of thyroid issues and the reduction of iodized salt.
The longer I live the more I realize doctors are just guessing most of the time.
3 posted on 06/03/2012 7:43:44 PM PDT by svcw (If one living cell on another planet is life, why isn't it life in the womb?)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Reduced salt could be the reason why people are getting fat. Ya never know.


4 posted on 06/03/2012 7:45:20 PM PDT by netmilsmom (Romney scares me. Obama is the freaking nightmare that is so bad you are afraid to go back to sleep)
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To: JRandomFreeper

Our grandparents and forefathers ate all kinds of greasy, fat and salt laden food. The fact that they actually worked and exercised helped them deal with it, not to mention all the chemical crap we eat these days isn’t helping.


5 posted on 06/03/2012 7:45:26 PM PDT by Mmogamer (I refudiate the lamestream media, leftists and their prevaricutions.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The Lord, My God, says EVERYTHING in moderation. Figure it out!


6 posted on 06/03/2012 7:45:44 PM PDT by IrishPennant (Are you behind a "Blade of Grass?")
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To: JRandomFreeper

Add Beer to that list!


7 posted on 06/03/2012 7:50:02 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Good! Now I won’t have to add as much meat to my salt.


8 posted on 06/03/2012 7:51:40 PM PDT by Ken H (Austerity is the irresistible force. Entitlements are the immovable object.)
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To: JRandomFreeper

“If you don’t eat salt, and you don’t eat fat... you will die.”

My Doctor gave me the best advice a guy raised on Southern Fried Cooking ever heard in a Doctor’s office: Eat more salt!

I gave up eating canned and processed foods years ago simply because I wanted to eat fresher stuff and enjoy cooking, hence, I wasn’t getting any sodium (salt) from those sources. The Doc’s advice was such a nice windfall. I add salt like a madman now. No repercussions!


9 posted on 06/03/2012 7:51:40 PM PDT by Rembrandt (Part of the 52% who pay Federal taxes)
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To: Red_Devil 232
In theory..... and theory is to practice as practice is to theory.... one CAN survive without beer.

Be dashed if I'd like to try it.... but in theory, it is possible.

/johnny

10 posted on 06/03/2012 7:53:06 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: IrishPennant

Moderation is relative. What’s the “moderate” limit on methamphetamine?


11 posted on 06/03/2012 7:54:31 PM PDT by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: svcw

iodine@yahoogroups.com

you should check this out


12 posted on 06/03/2012 7:55:50 PM PDT by Aria ( 2008 wasn't an election - it was a coup d'etat.)
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To: IrishPennant
Greek term or phrase: παν μέτρον άριστον all in good measure, or moderation in all things. For example, too much salt and you wind up with swollen feet from water retention.
13 posted on 06/03/2012 7:56:08 PM PDT by tumblindice (Our new, happy lives.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Used to bring my own salt shaker to one friend’s dinner events. Things are better now. Maybe because they’ve been convinced Sea Salt is healthier than Plain Old Salt.


14 posted on 06/03/2012 7:59:29 PM PDT by DefeatCorruption
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

All right, THAT DOES IT! I’m going to start using salt again on things I used to enjoy putting salt on:

Fresh whole tomatoes

Watermellon slices

green onions (scallions for you New Englanders)


15 posted on 06/03/2012 8:00:04 PM PDT by House Atreides
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To: Rembrandt
After I got hurt... and actually was awake for things... the vetdoc got fairly pissy about my low sodium level. I wasn't allowed fresh water.... anything else I wanted to drink, I could have. Just not straight up water.

There was a minor power struggle, and I ate more salt, and got my fresh H2O.

They said it was a 'socialogical problem because the subject doesn't eat foods from grocery stores, like most patients'

They also said I would die if left on my own after their attentions. That didn't happen either. Ask anyone here on FR that I've irritated recently. I'm still here, baby!

/johnny

16 posted on 06/03/2012 8:00:10 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Seems a lot of people misjudged Salt!!

17 posted on 06/03/2012 8:02:15 PM PDT by freedombird (When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness. -A. DeTocqueville)
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To: JRandomFreeper

After reading your post, I have a craving for an extra large bag of heavily salted and buttered movie popcorn! Mmmmm! I think I’d like to wash it down with a bucket sized, ice cold Dr. Pepper. Take that, Nanny Bloomberg!


18 posted on 06/03/2012 8:03:47 PM PDT by CitizenUSA (Why celebrate evil? Evil is easy. Good is the goal worth striving for.)
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To: JRandomFreeper

Just because one CAN do something, doesn’t mean one SHOULD.


19 posted on 06/03/2012 8:04:24 PM PDT by Nik Naym (It's not my fault... I have compulsive smartass disorder.)
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To: House Atreides

And bananas too. The potassium in the `nanners takes the sodium chloride by the ears and boxes them into submission.


20 posted on 06/03/2012 8:04:41 PM PDT by tumblindice (Our new, happy lives.)
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