Michael Bloomberg looking to regulate salt in NYC

[Eredar Warlock]

Article

Health care, unemployment, terrorism, war, deficits and ... salt?

That appears the latest controversy on the plate of at least one prominent politician.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants the Health Department to add salt to a crackdown list of foods that includes a ban on transfats and a requirement for fast food restaurants to display nutrition labels.

Now Bloomberg wants to go nationwide, urging a ruling to limit the salt in prepared foods sold in the city by 25 percent by 2014.

Britain introduced a stealth volunteer salt reduction program 10 years ago, which has taken root and resulted in salt consumption to .30 ounces from .33 ounces per person per day. British salt reduction supporters say the crackdown has reduced by 6,000 the number of deaths per year in that country.

One area in Britain where salt was cut most was in bread. But a New York Post editorial found it odd that a mayor who salts his Saltine crackers and eats burnt-bacon-and-peanut-butter sandwiches would call for a sodium crackdown.

Nutritionists say excessive dietary salt can cause increased blood pressure, which leads to heart disease, the No. 1 killer in America.

Nutritionist Keri Glassman said Americans consume about double the sodium they should, and the New York plan would not prohibit people from using a salt shaker.

"They're just trying to control the amount of salt that we get in our diet that we don't even know we're getting that we find in packaged processed foods. Let us take control, if you want to add some then that's your choice, but at least have the choice," she said.

But Justin Wilson, a senior research analyst with Consumer Freedom, said the "one-size-fits-all policy" applies to only a small part of the population, and not even everyone who needs it since "only 30 percent of people with high blood pressure need to reduce their salt intake."

"I think Mayor Bloomberg fancies himself to be a big brother," Wilson told Fox News. "He's slowly but surely regulating New Yorkers' diet to be just plain old bland. And I think it's just inappropriate for the government to mandate how much salt that we can eat, especially when you consider not everyone needs to have a low-salt diet."

Actress Suzanne Somers, a cancer survivor who's become an expert on alternative health care remedies, said sea salt actually lowers blood pressure rather than raising it. A simple switch from table salt to sea salt could make the difference in people's health as well as tamping down the ire of the city's chefs.

This stinks of big brother-ism.

 

[RavenKingSage]

Moron. If you don't want to eat sodium, just avoid it.

this reminds me of the King of the Hill episode "Trans-Fascism"...

 

[Jeff]

Sigh.

Government: Taking care of the people because the people can't take care of themselves.

 

[evkl]

Moron. If you don't want to eat sodium, just avoid it.

this reminds me of the King of the Hill episode "Trans-Fascism"...

This is given perfect information.

I'm not a fan of legislating health (obviously safety is a different issue) but the information should be out there, and right now it's not easily accessible when making a meal decision. Which needs changed.

 

[Eredar Warlock]

Honestly, if you don't know there's salt in fast food and other restaurants, you're living so far under a rock the earthworms are nibbling your toes.

 

[evkl]

Honestly, if you don't know there's salt in fast food and other restaurants, you're living so far under a rock the earthworms are nibbling your toes.

There's obviously salt, but I think people would be stunned to know how much. And how much does matter. It isn't just a salt/no salt issue.

 

[Satoshi-chan]

Many fast food places I visit either have the nutrition content posted on a poster on a wall, or on a paper you can request from the cashier. There is no reason to "save ourselves from ourselves."

 

[Covet]

Is it wrong that in the terms of the national obesity epidemic, I'm almost ok letting people eat what they want? Those who care to eat healthy will do so. Those who don't care won't.

Instead I'd rather there be an educational outreach letting people know what healthy eating is. It can even go as far as to help give them a better idea of what makes a healthy menu, which gives them more tools to make healthy choices than just shoving a food pyramid in their lap and leaving it at that.

 

[Satoshi-chan]

Indeed, health education (perhaps in the form of public service announcements run during commercial space on television stations) would be much better than forcing something like this on businesses and consumers.