FDA Restrictions on Salt Could Kill You

Eating too much salt raises blood pressure,
causes kidney failure and so forth. But how much is too much? The
U.S. Food and Drug Administration is trying to persuade the food
industry to cut back on the amount of salt in their products with
the aim of getting Americans to consume an average
2300 milligrams of sodium chloride per day (about a
teaspoon-full). The American Heart Association wants people to cut
back to 1500 milligrams.

The problem is that recent research shows that forcing people to
consume amounts of salt that low will most likely result in more
deaths than allowing them to eat the current American average of
3400 milligrams per day.

In fact, the New York Times reports that
two recent studies in the
New England Journal of Medicine found that consuming
between 3000 and 6000 milligrams of salt daily is not associated
with higher mortality. From the Times:

It found that people who consumed more than 7 grams of sodium
per day had a significantly higher chance of death than people who
ate 3-6 grams per day. People consuming high levels of sodium had
higher rates of heart attacks, heart failures and strokes as
well…

The second New England Journal of Medicine study

did just that. In addition to looking at high sodium diets, it
also compared the health outcomes of those who had very low sodium
diets. What they found was worrisome. When compared with those who
consumed 3-6 grams per day, people who consumed less than 3 grams
of sodium per day had an even higher risk of death or
cardiovascular incidents than those who consumed more than 7 grams
per day.

By seeking to impose, with the best of intentions, a
one-size-fits-all requirement in order to protect people who are
disposed to high blood pressure and kidney failure from consuming
too much salt, the health nannies may well kill more people than
they hope to save.

For more background on FDA health nannyism see Baylen Linnekin’s
“The
FDA’s Idiotic Attack on ‘Added’ Ingredients.”

Disclosure: My blood pressure was 105/80 when my physician
checked it earlier this year.