(May 17, 2011) Re: Shake that Salt, Opinion, May 12

I’m a salt lover. But, for the last few years I have been committed to cutting my salt intake for the perceived benefit of a healthier heart.

So committed was I to knowing the effects of salt intake and trying to cut it, I went so far, with help from friends and family, to create the SodiumWise.com website. Imagine how I felt when I saw Lawrence Solomon’s article. According to Solomon, reducing salt intake could be the worst thing for my health.

Solomon says numerous “conditions -some of them potentially fatal -could be triggered or exacerbated by a diet low in sodium.” Nobody disagrees with him about that.

The body needs sodium to function properly. The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., has determined the recommended safe minimum daily amount of sodium is about 500 milligrams.

But the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences says the normal upper limit is considered 2,400 milligrams per day. Yet many Americans (and Canadians too) consume higher amounts of salt, up to 6,000 milligrams a day.

Solomon says we don’t need government intervention to regulate sodium levels. We control our own salt shaker but that accounts for less than 15 per cent of our daily sodium consumption.

Our trouble is trying to get food processors and commercial outlets to control their salt shakers. It’s easy to blow your whole daily recommended sodium allocation in one quick meal.

Salt is a cheap flavour enhancer and preservative that the food industry has become over-dependent upon and they passed that dependency on to us.

The food industry is now earnestly working with government to cut excess sodium in processed food. Without regulation, or at least the threat of regulation, that would not have happened.

Joe Tatham, North Vancouver, May 17, 2011

Read the original article here