Today I saw this interesting NYT opinion article about salt, titled "Salt, We Misjudged You" and I was happy to read it because I've always loved salty/savory foods better than sweet ones and I love my food on the salty side (can't stand food without salt). In fact, I think I need to eat more salt because my blood pressure is generally very low.
One of the most interesting features of this article was demonstrating how oftentimes policy decisions (particularly those related to health issues) are NOT at all based on conclusive science, but on hypotheses and "commonly held" beliefs. I find that very troubling, to say the least. The fact that the organs that promote a "less/no salt" point of view (USDA, NIH, CDC) choose to simply ignore the studies that demonstrate that salt deficiencies can be detrimental to one's health is pretty outrageous...
well... I know this is one small issue, compared to others, but since I crave salt so much, I thought I'd share this link!
My understanding of the research
ReplyDelete(which is something I only tangentially come into contact with) is that salt is irrelevant for the majority of people. However, for a subset of people it is bad.
And for an even smaller subset of people with rare conditions (one of my colleagues), it is necessary to take mega doses.
make that... irrelevant given how easily accessible it is today... obviously a salt-free diet is dangerous!
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