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The Assault on Salt
Posted on Mon, June 14, 2010 by Intern
4 Comments | Categories: Labeling, News, Current Events, Policy,
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by intern Christine Binder
Over the past few months, there’s been a lot of talk about reducing the amount of salt in the U.S. food supply. Government officials, NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg, and the First Lady have all been asking food companies to voluntarily cut back the amount of salt they use. Some companies have complied, but there’s also been a lot of industry pushback, especially because the Institute of Medicine is recommending that the government create regulations for the amount of salt allowed in products. The New York Times recently published an excellent exposé of the food industry’s reactions to these potential salt restrictions.
So why is salt such a big deal? It’s because the stakes are so high, both for the health of the American people and the sales of the food and restaurant industry. Excess sodium consumption is a risk factor for high blood pressure, which is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, heart failure, kidney disease, and stroke – some of the biggest killers in America. Even though rates of hypertension are higher in certain populations, it is still a really big problem for everyone across the board. One third of American adults have hypertension, and another third have pre-hypertension. Rates of high blood pressure have been increasing even in children and adolescents.
Back in April, the Institute of Medicine came out with a report on reducing sodium intake in the U.S. The report asserted that forty years of salt reduction initiatives – focused mostly on consumer education and voluntary salt reduction by the food industry – have failed. Americans still eat 50% more sodium than the 2,300 milligram maximum recommended daily intake for healthy adults. Health experts estimate that a significant decrease in salt consumption could save 150,000 lives annually.
Here’s the most important thing you’ll learn about salt today: only 11% of the sodium that we eat comes from the salt shakers in our kitchens or on our tables, but a whopping 77% of it comes from processed foods and restaurant foods. Why so much salt? Food industry scientists say that without salt, processed food tastes like “cardboard” and “damp dog hair.” Adding lots of salt is the cheapest and easiest way to make it palatable.
This bodes well for those who have the time and resources to cook from scratch, but since most Americans depend on grocery stores and restaurants, the salt problem needs to be addressed on the population level, not just the individual level. Marion Nestle, who blogs frequently about salt, would “like the default to be a lower salt environment.” Should it really be this difficult for people to avoid excess sodium? I’m all in favor of moving towards a food system where making the healthy choice is the easy one, not the hard one.
Member Comments
From laura k on Mon, June 14, 2010
What I’d really like to see is some information that breaks down salt consumption between processed food, processed restaurant food (i.e. chains and fast food), and “real” restaurant food, where people are actually cooking things from scratch in the kitchen. I know that “real” restaurants do put a lot of salt in their food, but I think it becomes less important in our diets because people don’t eat in nice restaurants as often as they eat processed and/or fast food.
Personally, when I go out to eat it’s a special occasion, and I don’t have a problem with the high levels of salt in the food. It’s part of what makes it taste special. And since I do it rarely, it doesn’t affect my health too much.
From Christine Binder on Tue, June 15, 2010
Hi Laura,
Thanks for your comment! Here’s an article that the New York Times ran a while ago on the amount of salt in food from some New York restaurants. It seems like most of what they investigated turned out to be pretty salty, but some dishes had much more salt than others.
From Joy A Cookin' on Sat, June 19, 2010
Salt is a big issue, made problematic by a food industry that cares more about people buying more of their products than by making anything resembling a healthy food worthy of human consumption. So we get lots of salt and they get lots of profit. The problem is now that Americans are addicted to salt and actually crave increasing amounts, and taste buds can only recognize salt rather than flavors found in those of real food, herbs and spices.
My own experience is that fast food, processed food products and a lot of restaurant food tastes only of salt. This is actually a good thing because the body naturally recognizes unholy amount of sodium, and taste buds are a natural defense mechanism warning of the danger of eating such poor excuses for a meal. But if those sensors have become paralyzed from eating too much salt every day for years they can no longer recognize that danger. To those addicted to salt, the food tastes okay. Another way that the body can warn of too much sodium in the system is a powerful thirst after eating over-salted food. If the body doesn’t experience this reaction its early warning system has begun to shut down. Ignore the body and invite extreme health consequences.
The human biosystem is a powerful tool that will give us feedback if we listen to it. Addictions override system alarms. Eating real food is the only way to retrain the body to respond as intended. And that means knowing what’s in the food you eat. And that means cooking and feeding yourself. The food industry does not want to change it’s MO, so it’s up to us to feed ourselves good-for-you foods. There’s just no other way out of the catastrophe that is the American food way today.
From Cindy on Sat, June 26, 2010
I genuinely enjoy your posts. Well written, concise and very informative! Keep up the great work.
