Better Safe Than Salty

The Food Police are at it again, saving us from ourselves.  This year's bogeyman?  Salt.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has launched a National Salt Reduction Initiative to "guide" a "voluntary" reduction in the salt content of restaurant and pre-packaged foods.  They imagine that they will be saving lives by the hundreds of thousands.  They know not what they do.  It's the same faulty reasoning and misinterpretation of data that gave us smoking bans and carbon credits.

John Stossel and others have reported on this in the past, finding that salt is not a problem for most Americans, 90% according to this article from Esquire Magazine.  Your doctor will tell you if you're among the unlucky 10%.  I in fact have high blood pressure and take medication for it but my doctor has yet to even discuss salt with me.  But that fact that cutting salt helps some with high blood pressure has these Health Nazis supposing it will help everyone.  And they'll feel good about it.

Like everything else, moderation is the best policy.  A salt-free diet can be lethal.  And there is no point salting more than you truly need to.  James Beard, the late great American chef, noted that too many cooks under-salt during preparation, then use twice as much at the table via the shaker.  Season as you go like the pros and you may find you're eating better and salting less.

But you and your doctor can figure all this out without the Salzstaffel patrolling the kitchen.  Once again as is too often the case with government, the cure is worse than the disease.

Comments

[The Big Stink]

Micromanagement of human behavior. One group telling another how to run their lives. The camel's nose is under the tent. Our resolve, as defenders of liberty, are directly tied to our resistance to this kind of baloney.

[Speed Gibson]

And if "Health Care Reform" passes, the words "guide" and "voluntary" will become "must" and "mandated."