Study finds both high and low levels of salt consumption are linked to higher risk of heart attack, stroke and congestive heart failure

Consumption of too much, and too little, salt may be linked to a higher risk of heart-related hospitalisations and deaths, according to a new study.
Read article at foodnavigator-usa.com

But the researchers seem to me to be confusing association with causation. - When consumers know themselves to be sensitive to salt/sodium and/or know themselves to have high blood pressure, for example, they are likely to reduce their salt intake as a sensible precautionary measure. - Thus their low salt intake is not the cause of their increased risk of cardiovascular events, but the intentional consequence of knowing themselves to be vulnerable to adverse consequences if they were to eat more salt. I myself would certainly have died years ago, had I not reduced, and gradually eliminated, my consumption of any food containing added salt, thereby reducing both my extremely high blood pressure back to 'normal', and my obesity due to fluid retention. See my Mensa article about this.

Reducing salt intake is a global health priority say epidemiologists

The UN must make reducing salt intake a global health priority, say researchers, as reported here by BBC News. "Writing in the British Medical Journal they say a 15% cut in consumption could save 8.5 million lives around the world over the next decade. The report says practical steps to reduce consumption should be drawn up without delay. If voluntary measures do not work, the food industry should be compelled to cut salt levels, it says." (my emphasis)

Well you know, that's actually cheery, as I see it. - The message of these epidemiologists is clear, stark and honest; they're not temporising. They're not pretending that the food industry are doing any meaningful voluntary reducing of salt levels. - And if you look at that BMJ article itself I think you will be even more impressed by the unequivocal tone of their call to action.

And I'm impressed by the fact that they see the UN as the agency to address on this matter of the urgent need to reduce salt intake. Normally you'd assume that in a matter like this the World Health Organisation would be the agency approached. - Maybe these researchers have as low opinion of the WHO as I have, particularly when you cast your mind back to the scandalous shenanigans over the Swine Flu. See HERE, HERE, and HERE if you need reminders that health advisers we should be able to trust are far too often in the pockets of the pharmaceuticals industry. Bribery is the name of that game - or the euphemistic 'conflict of interest.'

As you must realise, I have for years been advising readers of my posts to eat less salt and salty food, and my advice is as clear and uncompromising and honest as the message of these researchers, so I welcome this report. And remember, when Morton Satin, a vice president at the industry body, the Salt Institute, rejects the report out of hand and says, "The salt reduction agenda has become an urban myth - far more based upon populist ideology than objective science," his words are dictated by his position as a spokesman/apologist for the Salt Industry.

Eat less salt and lower your risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart attacks, kidney disease and many more health problems

Reduce your salt consumption and lower your risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart attacks, kidney disease and many more health problems.

"The American Heart Association today issued a call to action for the public, health professionals, the food industry and the government to intensify efforts to reduce the amount of sodium (salt) Americans consume daily." See physorg.com article.

"Recently, the American Heart Association lowered their recommendation to no more than 1500 mg of sodium daily for the general public, after a report from the Centers for Disease Control found that a majority of the American population either have high blood pressure or are at high risk for developing it."

See Sodium in Foods

See Groups Vulnerable to Salt.

See Obesity and the Salt Connection.

Did you know that taking prescription drugs is a major cause of salt sensitivity? - Read about Amitriptyline and other antidepressants. And read about Prescribed Steroids, HRT and other Drugs.

Don't take it with a pinch of salt!

Don't take it with a pinch of salt!

If you give up adding salt to your food you will achieve a host of benefits for your health.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver damage and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk

The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Vulnerable groups

Sodium in foods

See also FAT RETENTION

advice for pregnant mothers

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

Associated health conditions

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

I can be contacted from my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Potassium lowers blood pressure. New study

http://www.scientistlive.com/European-Science-News/Medical/Potassium_lowers_blood_pressure/21618/

Well I've been telling people for years, both in this blog and on my website (www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk) that potassium lowers blood pressure and that the way in which it does that is by displacing some excess sodium from the bloodstream.

Anyway, the link I have given from the scientistlive.com website gives interesting information from a new study. Obviously the main dietary change necessary to lower high blood pressure is to reduce sodium intake, but when lower sodium is accompanied by plenty of potassium this lowers high blood pressure even more.

I recommend you read the whole article, but here, at any rate, is an extract from it:

"The new study "is a quantum leap in the quality of the data compared to what we have had before," Whelton said.

Whelton was a member of a recent Institute of Medicine panel that set dietary recommendations for salt and potassium. The panel said healthy 19-to-50 year-old adults should consume no more than 2,300 milligrammes of sodium per day -- equivalent to one teaspoon of table salt. More than 95 percent of American men and 75 percent of American women in this age range exceed this amount.

To lower blood pressure and blunt the effects of salt, adults should consume 4.7 grams of potassium per day unless they have a clinical condition or medication need that is a contraindication to increased potassium intake. Most American adults aged 31-to-50 consume only about half as much as recommended in the Institute of Medicine report. Changes in diet and physical activity should be under the supervision of a health care professional.

Good potassium sources include fruits, vegetables, dairy foods and fish. Foods that are especially rich in potassium include potatoes and sweet potatoes, fat-free milk and yogurt, tuna, lima beans, bananas, tomato sauce and orange juice. Potassium also is available in supplements.

Whelton is among the nation's top experts on high blood pressure. He has published more than 400 papers on the subject, and has been the principal investigator on more than $100 million of studies funded by the National Institutes of Health."

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Parents risk exposing their children to "overwhelmingly" high levels of fat, salt and sugar when they buy a meal at leisure parks et al.

Theme park children's meals full of salt, fat and sugar
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The food served at leisure centres, theme parks, wildlife parks and heritage sites all contained levels of fat, saturated fat, salt, sugar and protein that is far in excess of recommended guidelines, the Local Government Association said.

Environmental health and trading standards officers from councils across the UK tested 397 different meals for seven to 10-year-olds at 220 sites for a day out.

None of the meals complied with the School Food Trust (SFT) recommendations for healthier food designed to tackle Britain's growing child obesity problem."

It is high SALT intake that causes child obesity.

Children and Obesity

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

FDA urged to crack down on salt content

From United Press International - FDA urged to crack down on salt content

Experts have not been giving people all the facts about salt:

Lose weight and improve your health in many ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Professor Julian Le Grand, chair of Health England, says a completely fresh approach is required to reverse the epidemic of obesity...

Unveiled: radical prescription for our health crisis

Extract from the article in the Independent:

"A radical plan to persuade people to stop smoking, take more exercise and change their diets was proposed last night by a leading Government adviser.

As new figures were published yesterday showing that England tops the European league as the fattest nation in the EU, Professor Julian Le Grand, chair of Health England and a former senior Downing Street aide to Tony Blair, said a completely fresh approach was required by Government to reverse the epidemic of obesity and to tackle similar ills caused by "excess consumption".

In a speech to the Royal Statistical Society last night, Professor Le Grand said instead of requiring people to make healthy choices – by giving up smoking, taking more exercise and eating less salt – policies should be framed so the healthy option is automatic and people have to choose deliberately to depart from it.

Among his suggestions are a proposal for a smoking permit, which smokers would have to produce when buying cigarettes, an "exercise hour" to be provided by all large companies for their employees and a ban on salt in processed food.

The idea, dubbed "libertarian paternalism", reverses the traditional government approach that requires individuals to opt in to healthy schemes. Instead, they would have to opt out to make the unhealthy choice, by buying a smoking permit, choosing not to participate in the exercise hour or adding salt at the table."

Let us consider the professor's suggestion to reduce obesity, namely participation in an exercise hour. - Exercise can be beneficial in many ways, but it has no effect in reducing obesity. - Exercise has nothing to do with preventing obesity - Forget about it! - Obesity is NOT caused by overeating or by inactivity. It is caused by fluid retention, frequently because of taking prescribed medications, especially steroids such as prednisolone, prednisone and HRT, and anti-depressants such as amitriptyline. (When doctors prescribe drugs that cause sodium retention and water retention they should warn the patient not to eat salt, or food containing salt, while taking the medication. When they do not give this warning, the inevitable consequence is considerable weight gain.)

Read here about the groups of people who are vulnerable to salt: vulnerable groups

Obesity can be easily reduced by seriously reducing your salt/sodium intake and eating plenty of fruit and fresh vegetables. - It is important not to restrict calories. - 'Slimming' or 'dieting' is unnecessary, ineffective and harmful.

So you will realise that I am enthusiastically in favour of a ban on salt in processed food. - This is what steroid victims and other salt-sensitive people desperately need.

However, Prof Le Grand, apparently, is advocating the salt ban in order to reduce incidence of high blood pressure - which it would - and not informing people that salt reduction is the fastest, safest, most reliable way of losing excess weight. - If the salt ban were to be implemented, obesity would be reduced, but presumably the reduction would falsely be attributed to the exercise hour!...)o:

But people desperately need to be told the TRUTH!

Also, Professor Le Grand, an excellent way to reduce the incidence of morbid obesity would be to curb the reckless prescribing habits of doctors. - See above.

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors
or adverts - just helpful information.)

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help.

My help is free.

Salt consumption in Britain is falling but still 50 per cent higher than advised, claims Food Standards Agency.

Salt consumption falling but still 50 per cent higher than advised

Extract:

"Salt consumption in Britain has dropped but is still on average 50 per cent higher than the recommended amount, new research claims. Tests on 1,287 adults showed their average salt intake was 9g per day compared to 9.5g when tests were done in 2001.

But consumption is still higher than the Government's national target of 6g per day, the Food Standards Agency said.

The urinary sodium tests carried out in 2005-06 showed men consumed an average 10.2g of salt per day compared to 11g in 2001.

Women's average intake was less at 7.6g per day - down from 8.1g in 2005/06.

The results follow a Food Standards Agency campaign encouraging people to cut their salt intake. The campaign warns that 75 per cent of salt eaten in Britain is found in processed food."

It is scandalous that successive governments and their negligent Departments of Health delayed until 2003 warning British citizens that salt intake could be too high and could cause serious illness and early death. AND THEY ARE STILL NOT TELLING PEOPLE THAT TO LOSE EXCESS WEIGHT THEY NEED TO REDUCE SALT/SODIUM INTAKE AND NOT REDUCE CALORIES, BECAUSE OBESITY IS CAUSED BY FLUID RETENTION, NOT BY EATING TOO MANY CALORIES. - I certainly do not believe that all the expensive government advisors are so ill-informed that they do not know this to be the case. I believe that the reason we are being constantly exhorted to eat less salt is in the pious hope that obesity will thereby be reduced - but will be attributed to an increase in exercise, about which we are also being constantly exhorted. 'Experts'on eating problems have a big eating problem of their own; they do not relish having to eat their own words. - They are hoping to get away with it - get away with not being forced to admit that their calorie and overeating claims of the past are not only needless and ineffective, but are also counter-productive - more likely to cause weight gain than weight loss in obese people, because eating insufficient calories causes increased water retention in the blood stream. And of course the ones who know the truth are hoping desperately to hide the truth so that they do not get sued by the thousands and thousands of innocent people who have been greatly harmed by the misinformation the 'experts' have been giving for many years. - If the truth were to be told - that to lose excess weight the calorie myth must be abandoned and the obese person needs to cut down seriously on salt/sodium intake - then obese people could concentrate on eating less sodium instead of wasting any more of their lives on the dangerous course of eating fewer calories than the body needs. - And they would rapidly and safely lose weight - without hunger, without drugs, without strenuous exercise and without fail.

1 Nutritional Aspects of Cardiovascular Disease 1994 This COMA report considered the evidence for a causal relationship between the consumption of sodium and both the level of blood pressure and the rise in blood pressure with age. A statement in the report said it recommended: "A reduction in the average intake of common salt (sodium chloride) by the adult population from the current level of about 9g/day to about 6g/day. There needs to be a gradual reduction in the amount of sodium from salt added to processed food and food manufacturers, caterers, and individuals should explore and grasp the opportunity for reducing the sodium content of foods and meals." The Chief Medical Officer at that time, accepted all the recommendations in this COMA report except for the recommendation to reduce salt. The reason for this is not clear but is believed to be pressure from industry. Department of Health (1994), "Nutritional Aspects of Cardiovascular Disease", HMSO, London.

2 Dietary Reference Values 1991 This COMA report considered that: "Current sodium intakes are needlessly high and we caution against any trend towards increased intakes". It set its recommended intake for salt, as with all the other recommended intakes for nutrients, on the basis of the balance of risks and benefits, which might practically be expected to occur. The RNI for a particular population group is defined as the amount of the nutrient that is enough or more than enough for about 97% of the people in this group. The Reference Nutrient Intake (RNI) for sodium for adults was set at 1600 mg/day. This is equivalent to approximately 4g of salt, if all the sodium was present in the diet as sodium chloride. This is considerably less than the present intake of 9-12g. Department of Health (1991), "Dietary Reference values for food, energy and nutrients for the United Kingdom", HMSO, London

I wonder why The Chief Medical Officer in the early '90s apparently did nothing to implement the recommendation of a maximum of 4g of salt a day, and apparently gave greater consideration to the desires of the food industry than to the health of the nation, and I wonder how many deaths and how much terrible suffering he was, therefore, personally responsible for? And I wonder why his successors in the post were so tardy in taking effective steps to give warnings about salt consumption? - Political considerations? - What though, could be more important in this matter than the health of the members of public - the electorate - the tax-payers, in fact?

I consider the failure to put pressure on food manufacturers and caterers to reduce the sodium content of foods and meals until recent times to be a dereliction of duty of successive political administrations and health departments. - I remember buying McCance and Widdowson's 'Composition of Foods' in the late '90s, at considerable cost, in order to discover how much sodium there was in food. There was no way consumers could get this information from the pack.

Here's a serious suggestion for the government: - put a punitive tax on table salt.

For fuller discussion on the political considerations that have caused the obesity epidemic you need to read the whole of page http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Much of the food industry's food labelling in Britain has been criticised as misleading by the National Heart Forum.

Much of the food industry's food labelling has been criticised as misleading by the National Heart Forum

Extracts:

"The NHF report criticised some food companies for misleading consumers in the way information under the industry-backed scheme was presented. It said the information was "too complex" and often confused people rather than helped them."

"Jane Landon, the deputy chief executive of the National Heart Forum, criticised the industry's scheme, warning many consumers were not aware that GDAs were a "limit, not a target". She said: "This report shows some manufacturers and retailers are failing their customers by using nutritional food labels which are overly complex.

"Some even appear to be manipulating the front-of-pack label to promote their products rather than to inform their customers.

"Without reading the small print on the back of the packet it is not clear that for fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt these figures represent limits rather than targets."

It's so weird. - The one piece of information that always seems to be present on packs is the information about calorie content. - Yet this is the ONLY piece of information that is completely irrelevant, since obesity is not caused by eating too many calories! - If the calorie information were to be abandoned, there would be more room for the much more important salt/sodium content to be prominently displayed.

People can read the truth in my blog. - See Do you believe that obesity is caused by over-eating - by consuming too many calories? - I invite you to consider the evidence and think again!

Obesity is not caused by eating too much. - It is caused/initiated by fluid retention. - Dieting is potentially harmful.
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Compare "Salt Consumption connected to Obesity" with "Obesity and the Salt Connection"

Salt Consumption connected to Obesity

The Finnish researchers appear to have no scientific evidence to back their claim that “the increased intake in salt since has apparently played an important role in the increase in the consumption of soft drinks and, hence, also in the increase in energy intake." Increased salt intake certainly results in increased thirst, but sugary drinks are a poor choice to slake one's thirst, since sugar itself increases thirst. - If you want to know the facts about Obesity and the Salt Connection, read my Mensa article on the subject: Obesity and the Salt Connection

Chips 'can increase the risk of infertility'. (So can obesity and salt/sodium intake.)

Chips 'can increase the risk of infertility'. - Worth reading! - It's the transfats, apparently, that cause this increased risk, but read further details in the report.

Being obese also increases the risk of infertility. And since obesity is caused by salt sensitivity, any woman wanting to increase her fertility would benefit from reducing her salt/sodium intake. - See aspects of health that are affected by salt sensitivity and salt intake

Also see information for pregnant mothers

Food Retailers are making it more difficult for you to reduce your salt intake to a safer level!

Check out how the Food Industry and certain Food Retailers don't seem to mind damaging the health of their customers! -

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-2296901,00.html

This report begins with

"BRITAIN’S biggest food companies united to convince regulators to reduce tough targets for cutting the level of salt in their products, The Times has learnt.

Household names were prominent in campaigning for a gentler approach by the Food Standards Agency, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Waitrose and Nestlé were some of the powerful players who pushed hard to persuade the FSA to adopt less demanding goals, the papers reveal."

And check out the facts in relation to certain categories of food. - You may be surprised at what you read! - Here is an extract from the following press release:

“This is a broadly disappointing report. It reveals a food industry still defending the use of excess salt in processed foods based upon weak arguments referring to 'technical reasons' and 'food safety' which are very largely irrelevant to contemporary food processing conditions."

Consensus Action on Salt and Health

You may like to consider writing to Marks and Spencer, Tesco and the others to suggest that the health of their customers should have a higher priority. - The harmfully high levels of salt that big business has ladelled into so many of its products over the years have surely done enough damage to consumers already, and the food industry should be seeking to make up for its wrong-doing, not seeking to be allowed to continue it...

And how is it that the FSA cannot stick to its guns? - It is a government agency, after all. - Toothless, is it? - Or what?