U.S. doctors' warning: Don't pass the salt
Food industry could help 80 million Americans with high blood pressure if they cut salt use by 50 per cent, they say.
July 2, 2006 ALTIMORE - SALT can be hazardous to your health. That is the message American doctors want sent out.
Worried by the high salt content in processed foods and restaurant meals, the American Medical Association (AMA) has adopted several recommendationsto help consumers.
These include persuading the Food and Drug Administration to revoke salt's status as a food 'generally recognised as safe', opening the door to regulation.
It is also calling for new public-education efforts and a new label - a red salt shaker - to warn consumers when food portions are high in salt.
It also hopes to work with the food industry to cut the salt in processed, take-out and restaurant food by at least 50 per cent gradually, over 10 years.
The reason: An estimated 80 million Americans have high blood pressure, which can be worsened by high-salt diets, leading to increased risks for cardiovascular disease and death.
'That's almost half the population that has a condition that can be helped by industry doing things that are right, like letting consumers know how much of a potentially harmful substance is in the food they're consuming,' said Dr James Rohack, cardiologist and immediate past chairman of the AMA's board of trustees.
The Salt Institute, representing the salt industry, disagrees. It says there is no scientific evidence that cutting everyone's salt intake will reduce overall mortality from cardiovascular disease.
'Following the AMA recommendation is scientifically unjustified and a waste of time and money,' said the institute's president Richard Hanneman.
Some salt is essential for health. Author Mark Kurlansky of Salt: A World History says it is vital for nerve and muscle function, digestion and bloodpressure.
Humans have used it as a food preservative, flavouring and even as currency. It also tastes good.
Based on clinical studies, the federal government recommends that adults consume less than 2,300mg of sodium per day.
That's the sodium in just 6g of salt, chemically known as sodium chloride.
Although the AMA report suggests reducing sodium intake to 1,500mg per day, most American men aged 31 to 50 - and three-quarters of the women - consume more than 2,300mg, the AMA said.
Some 80 per cent of Americans' salt intake comes from processed foods, take-out and restaurant food, Dr Rohack said.
As the salt enters the bloodstream, the body retains water in order to maintain a proper salt/water balance.
A high-salt diet 'overloads the kidneys' ability to filter and get rid of the extra water', he said.
The water increases blood volume, which increases blood pressure. High salt intake is bad news in congestive heart failure, the No. 1 diagnosis among hospitalised Medicare patients.
It is a weakening of the heart muscle and retention of fluids that can cause breathing difficulties.
Although there are many risk factors to address - smoking, inactivity and obesity - Dr Rohack says cutting salt intake gets results and patients needless medication to control their condition.
That's why the AMA wants to enlist government and the food industry to gradually cut the salt in prepared foods.
But Dr Michael Alderman, a professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and president of the International Society of Hypertension, thinks otherwise.
Although it is clear that lowering salt intake will lower blood pressure, he argues, it doesn't prove that cutting salt intake will, on the whole, save lives.
In a review of 13 studies of the effect of salt reduction on patient mortality published in March by the American Journal of Medicine, DrAlderman and three colleagues found no clear consensus.
The Salt Institute, which has engaged Dr Alderman as an unpaid consultant and referred to his work in responding to AMA, wants more study of the issue.
AMA's Dr Rohack is undeterred. 'To ask the FDA to focus on something that potentially can cause a lot of harm in a lot of individuals,' he insisted, 'is the right thing to do at this time in our country.' -- Los Angeles Times
Aiyoh, when the experts disagree, we all how ah? Moderation ... for me and my family.
July 2, 2006 ALTIMORE - SALT can be hazardous to your health. That is the message American doctors want sent out.
Worried by the high salt content in processed foods and restaurant meals, the American Medical Association (AMA) has adopted several recommendationsto help consumers.
These include persuading the Food and Drug Administration to revoke salt's status as a food 'generally recognised as safe', opening the door to regulation.
It is also calling for new public-education efforts and a new label - a red salt shaker - to warn consumers when food portions are high in salt.
It also hopes to work with the food industry to cut the salt in processed, take-out and restaurant food by at least 50 per cent gradually, over 10 years.
The reason: An estimated 80 million Americans have high blood pressure, which can be worsened by high-salt diets, leading to increased risks for cardiovascular disease and death.
'That's almost half the population that has a condition that can be helped by industry doing things that are right, like letting consumers know how much of a potentially harmful substance is in the food they're consuming,' said Dr James Rohack, cardiologist and immediate past chairman of the AMA's board of trustees.
The Salt Institute, representing the salt industry, disagrees. It says there is no scientific evidence that cutting everyone's salt intake will reduce overall mortality from cardiovascular disease.
'Following the AMA recommendation is scientifically unjustified and a waste of time and money,' said the institute's president Richard Hanneman.
Some salt is essential for health. Author Mark Kurlansky of Salt: A World History says it is vital for nerve and muscle function, digestion and bloodpressure.
Humans have used it as a food preservative, flavouring and even as currency. It also tastes good.
Based on clinical studies, the federal government recommends that adults consume less than 2,300mg of sodium per day.
That's the sodium in just 6g of salt, chemically known as sodium chloride.
Although the AMA report suggests reducing sodium intake to 1,500mg per day, most American men aged 31 to 50 - and three-quarters of the women - consume more than 2,300mg, the AMA said.
Some 80 per cent of Americans' salt intake comes from processed foods, take-out and restaurant food, Dr Rohack said.
As the salt enters the bloodstream, the body retains water in order to maintain a proper salt/water balance.
A high-salt diet 'overloads the kidneys' ability to filter and get rid of the extra water', he said.
The water increases blood volume, which increases blood pressure. High salt intake is bad news in congestive heart failure, the No. 1 diagnosis among hospitalised Medicare patients.
It is a weakening of the heart muscle and retention of fluids that can cause breathing difficulties.
Although there are many risk factors to address - smoking, inactivity and obesity - Dr Rohack says cutting salt intake gets results and patients needless medication to control their condition.
That's why the AMA wants to enlist government and the food industry to gradually cut the salt in prepared foods.
But Dr Michael Alderman, a professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and president of the International Society of Hypertension, thinks otherwise.
Although it is clear that lowering salt intake will lower blood pressure, he argues, it doesn't prove that cutting salt intake will, on the whole, save lives.
In a review of 13 studies of the effect of salt reduction on patient mortality published in March by the American Journal of Medicine, DrAlderman and three colleagues found no clear consensus.
The Salt Institute, which has engaged Dr Alderman as an unpaid consultant and referred to his work in responding to AMA, wants more study of the issue.
AMA's Dr Rohack is undeterred. 'To ask the FDA to focus on something that potentially can cause a lot of harm in a lot of individuals,' he insisted, 'is the right thing to do at this time in our country.' -- Los Angeles Times
Aiyoh, when the experts disagree, we all how ah? Moderation ... for me and my family.
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