Government’s plan to cut health costs: Get restaurants to use less salt
Published: June 1, 2016 2:51 p.m. ET
By
EMMA
COURT
REPORTER
The salt is too darn high.
On average, American adults aren’t just eating more salt than they should — they’re eating one-and-a-half times the government guidelines.
The bulk of that consumption — three-quarters — comes from restaurant foods, spurring a Food and Drug Administration effort to get companies to do something about it — voluntarily.
The proposed guidelines, released today, recommend sodium goals by restaurant product or menu item, 150 categories in total, designed with a salt intake goal for Americans in mind.
“Many Americans want to reduce sodium in their diets, but that’s hard to do when much of it is in everyday products we buy in stores and restaurants,†Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said. “Today’s announcement is about putting power back in the hands of consumers, so that they can better control how much salt is in the food they eat and improve their health.â€
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit, says it has urged the FDA to reduce salt in foods for 10 years, suing the agency to that effect last fall.
The organization’s president, Michael F. Jacobson, pointed out that the FDA’s proposal was voluntary, in contrast with the mandatory approach CSPI requested.
Published: June 1, 2016 2:51 p.m. ET
By
EMMA
COURT
REPORTER
The salt is too darn high.
On average, American adults aren’t just eating more salt than they should — they’re eating one-and-a-half times the government guidelines.
The bulk of that consumption — three-quarters — comes from restaurant foods, spurring a Food and Drug Administration effort to get companies to do something about it — voluntarily.
The proposed guidelines, released today, recommend sodium goals by restaurant product or menu item, 150 categories in total, designed with a salt intake goal for Americans in mind.
“Many Americans want to reduce sodium in their diets, but that’s hard to do when much of it is in everyday products we buy in stores and restaurants,†Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said. “Today’s announcement is about putting power back in the hands of consumers, so that they can better control how much salt is in the food they eat and improve their health.â€
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit, says it has urged the FDA to reduce salt in foods for 10 years, suing the agency to that effect last fall.
The organization’s president, Michael F. Jacobson, pointed out that the FDA’s proposal was voluntary, in contrast with the mandatory approach CSPI requested.
There are a few people with kidney disease who do need to restrict sodium (and balance a bunch of other stuff) to manage high blood pressure. The vast majority of people with HBP do not respond to sodium restriction after the first month. That is to say, if they restrict sodium hard for a month, they lose significant weight in terms of water. Blood pressure goes down a bit. But the same thing happens if they lose the same amount of fat weight without restricting sodium. So, it's a function of smaller body mass.
The biggest and best studies of pan-global salt intake show that all human beings use a fairly set amount of salt regardless of their access to salt. So, salt intake is very well managed through taste and doesn't vary much. You might eat 10 donuts but you will not eat even a teaspoon of salt at a shot.
However, you can make food taste pretty bad if salt is not used enough in cooking.
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