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View Full Version : FDA plans to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods for health reasons




Matt Collins
04-20-2010, 10:52 AM
FDA plans to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods for health reasons

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/19/AR2010041905049_pf.html



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robertwerden
04-20-2010, 11:08 AM
I actually agree that there is to much sodium in these foods, as I suffered from illness as a child from excessive sodium in my diet. But the method of reduction should be by the refusal to purchase the products not by government intervention.

In reality though most people do not know that sodium is potentially bad for you, and the likely hood of people acting correctly and refusing to buy these high sodium products begs to argue that the FDA while an abomination in most of its efforts may actually be acting with in the confines of the constitution by the general welfare clause.

I think though the smart way to do it is to allow citizens who are fighting the high sodium content to sue the companies who are selling these products and get the products to change their sodium levels on their own.

paulitics
04-20-2010, 11:12 AM
I have actually been increasing my sodium in my diet, to raise my sometimes low blood pressure, and to get the nutrients found in iodized sea salt. Usually the opposite of what the government tells you to do, is best.

robertwerden
04-20-2010, 11:19 AM
No, usually what your doctor tells you is best. Case in point sodium levels are different for every person.

ChaosControl
04-20-2010, 11:28 AM
They do this out of their supposed concern for health and then look what the government puts in school lunches. It makes no damn sense.

MelissaWV
04-20-2010, 11:35 AM
They do this out of their supposed concern for health and then look what the government puts in school lunches. It makes no damn sense.

I read your post just as I finished a really silly piece about how the Government (which had such a huge hand in insisting school lunches be implemented) wants to change the lunch programs because now there's a chance kids will grow up too obese to properly fill military quotas. I kid you not.

furface
04-20-2010, 11:36 AM
There's no hard evidence that salt is bad for you.

MelissaWV
04-20-2010, 11:40 AM
There's no hard evidence that salt is bad for you.

Overdoing sodium is not good for your body. The trouble is "overdoing" varies from person to person, and there are other dietary habits that either help or hinder the sodium situation. Potassium is a great counterweight to high sodium, and keeping hydrated is essential to good health. Blanketly "limiting salt" in foods is ignorant, especially when it will probably lead to the same sort of hysteria and unintended consequences that "limiting fat" has turned into. While it wasn't really mandated, the "low fat" bandwagon gave us all manner of chemical manipulation of foods. "Low sodium" often means something else has got to give. Why move in on salt (which has been important in diets for thousands upon thousands of years), and leave MSG, HFCS, and other frankenfood ingredients out there? Hmmm!

Matt Collins
04-20-2010, 12:12 PM
Where in the Constitution is this authorized?

MelissaWV
04-20-2010, 12:14 PM
Where in the Constitution is this authorized?

It's one of those situations where the cat was let out of the bag ages ago. We have the FDA, and we have a "school lunch" program, and we have all kinds of regulations on the books already.

Asking "is this Constitutional?" doesn't cross a lot of minds.

Honestly, I think this is a time when it doesn't even need to be part of the argument. This can be defeated solely on the basis of its own stupidity.

Matt Collins
04-20-2010, 12:20 PM
This can be defeated solely on the basis of its own stupidity.But not everyone agrees and good arguments can be made that it is "a good idea" or "for the common good" or whatever. However asking where it is authorized in the Constitution brings the argument down to the crux of the matter - the federal government is way out of bounds. :)

Zippyjuan
04-20-2010, 12:40 PM
I have actually been increasing my sodium in my diet, to raise my sometimes low blood pressure, and to get the nutrients found in iodized sea salt. Usually the opposite of what the government tells you to do, is best.
Unless you are consuming a lot of salt, the nutrients in iodized sea salt will have a minimal impact on your diet. I use sea salt but not because I think I am getting more nutrition from it.

People have gotten used to the taste of salty foods so reducing the sodium, while better for health, will in the short term make foods taste blander to some people until their taste adjusts. There are many foods I do not buy because they have too much salt in them - but many of them also contain too much fats and sugars too. Salt was originally used to help preserve foods- now it is mostly for flavor.

The reason a hot can of soup warms you up on a cold day is not the temperature but the sodium- it raises your blood pressure which makes you feel warmer.

Most people do not have the time or inclination to read labels on what they buy so saying that people should be able to make their own informed choices assumes that they are informed in the first place. We do not have the time to be informed about all things and make informed choices.

sratiug
04-20-2010, 12:53 PM
There's nothing wrong with salt, as long as it ain't sodium salt. I only use potassium salt. Sodium in foods is a huge health issue.

It is the potassium/sodium balance that is important. You need at least 4 to 1 potassium over sodium. Potassium raises the water pressure inside your cells, keeping you hydrated and energized. Sodium lowers the water pressure inside your cells forcing your blood pressure higher to force nutrients into your dehydrated cells.

Your body is mostly water, and nearly all of the power of your body comes from the hydroelectric pumps in your cell membranes.

PatriotOne
04-20-2010, 12:58 PM
I have no problem with this. If people want more salt they can add more themselves as opposed to being forced to eat high levels of sodium. At least they have a choice without having to make everything from scratch. Less salt in processed food is a good start.

MelissaWV
04-20-2010, 01:01 PM
I have no problem with this. If people want more salt they can add more themselves as opposed to being forced to eat high levels of sodium. At least they have a choice without having to make everything from scratch. Less salt in processed food is a good start.

Um.

No one is forcing you to buy the high-sodium foods.

Adding it after the fact is NOT the same thing as salt being added during cooking/processing.

You do have choices as it is, and common sense should rule, not the Government's decision on what's "bad" for you.

nathanmn
04-20-2010, 11:56 PM
This is insane. This is a monstrous intrusion into both private industry and individual consumer's decisions. Someone should propose a law in congress to block this. Paging Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann?

Fox McCloud
04-21-2010, 12:20 AM
There's not that many people that know sodium is bad for you? *Sigh* I really hate this paternalistic mentality that pervades all of society....it's like the lawyers who sue McDonalds and such because "the customers didn't know it'd give them heart attacks/make them fat/clog their arteries/etc". Yeah, people are dumb, but they're not so dumb they can't see the cause and effect relationship of certain things.

polomertz
04-21-2010, 08:26 AM
Just saw this with RP/CFL mention.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-fda-salt-20100421,0,5219936.story

While public health advocates like Jacobson hailed the clampdown, libertarian skeptics of government viewed it as another sign of a nanny state run amok.

"It's another encroachment on people's personal freedom," said Gary Howard, spokesman for Campaign for Liberty, a libertarian advocacy group formed in the wake of Texas Rep. Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign.

"They've already gotten into people's medical care," Howard said. "Where will they go next? Will they mandate exercise?"

nathanmn
04-22-2010, 09:41 AM
So, isn't there going to be any formal opposition to this? Once again, shouldn't we get our people in congress to propose a law prohibiting the FDA from doing this? It seems like a battle worth fighting. Its worth making a scene of, because their responses when they try to justify the insane powers they think they have over us will be very telling. It may wake some more people up.

TheBlackPeterSchiff
04-22-2010, 10:51 AM
Fucking ridiculous.

Education and personal responsibility is what's needed.....not more fucking govt mandate.


Now people will have to go in some dark alley to buy some good bacon.

TheBlackPeterSchiff
04-22-2010, 10:53 AM
So, isn't there going to be any formal opposition to this?.


I doubt it.....I saw and online CNN poll (i know i know) ....and fucking 70% said they are in favor of this. SMFH

TheEvilDetector
04-22-2010, 11:45 AM
Everything is going as planned, it won't be long now before government enforces the correct method of cleaning your posterior after number 2.