Salt: A Love Triangle
American’s love salt because it makes food taste good. Food manufacturers love salt because it makes consumers crave their products. Salt loves food manufacturers–it’s a cheap and therefore profitable ingredient. But salt doesn’t love Americans. It kills them.
And now the FDA is getting involved. Or not, depending on how you interpret their April 20 statement in response to the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report on sodium. The report came in response to a 2008 request by Congress for the IOM to recommend strategies to reduce sodium intake.
The IOM report recommends that the government set new standards for sodium levels in food. Or as the FDA phrases it: “national action is imperative to reduce the sodium content of foods if we are to make significant progress toward reducing the risk of hypertension and major cardiovascular events for Americans.”
Speculation that the FDA might regulate sodium soon followed, but the FDA quickly responded that it is not currently seeking to change sodium regulations, just going to “more thoroughly review the recommendations of the IOM report and build plans for how the FDA can continue to work … to support the reduction of sodium levels in the food supply.”
It’s no wonder the FDA is being cagey about their plan of action. Sodium regulation is a contentious issue, one the New York Times recently covered beautifully. (1) In nut shell,
the average American consumes ten times the daily 500mg of sodium they need and twice the 2,400mg limit the USDA recommends. Food companies use salt so liberally in their products because it’s a cheap way to add texture and flavor, so reducing salt might also reduce customers and profits.Regulation might not be the only answer. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, well known for his progressive stance on health and nutrition intervention, secured a commitment from 16 companies to voluntarily reduce the amount of salt in certain foods following the IOM report.
Though voluntary efforts on the part of the food industry would be the ideal solution for this problem, the IOM report states that previous attempts at widespread voluntary industry salt reduction have failed. Legislation might be the only way to make lasting wide spread change and keep the playing field even between food companies.
So what are you going to do FDA? Get involved and turn this salt love triangle into a square?
And now the FDA is getting involved. Or not, depending on how you interpret their April 20 statement in response to the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report on sodium. The report came in response to a 2008 request by Congress for the IOM to recommend strategies to reduce sodium intake.
The IOM report recommends that the government set new standards for sodium levels in food. Or as the FDA phrases it: “national action is imperative to reduce the sodium content of foods if we are to make significant progress toward reducing the risk of hypertension and major cardiovascular events for Americans.”
Speculation that the FDA might regulate sodium soon followed, but the FDA quickly responded that it is not currently seeking to change sodium regulations, just going to “more thoroughly review the recommendations of the IOM report and build plans for how the FDA can continue to work … to support the reduction of sodium levels in the food supply.”
It’s no wonder the FDA is being cagey about their plan of action. Sodium regulation is a contentious issue, one the New York Times recently covered beautifully. (1) In nut shell,
the average American consumes ten times the daily 500mg of sodium they need and twice the 2,400mg limit the USDA recommends. Food companies use salt so liberally in their products because it’s a cheap way to add texture and flavor, so reducing salt might also reduce customers and profits.Regulation might not be the only answer. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, well known for his progressive stance on health and nutrition intervention, secured a commitment from 16 companies to voluntarily reduce the amount of salt in certain foods following the IOM report.
Though voluntary efforts on the part of the food industry would be the ideal solution for this problem, the IOM report states that previous attempts at widespread voluntary industry salt reduction have failed. Legislation might be the only way to make lasting wide spread change and keep the playing field even between food companies.
So what are you going to do FDA? Get involved and turn this salt love triangle into a square?
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