FDA mulls stricter regulation of salt in food

Public health advocates on Thursday called for tighter restrictions on salt content in food, arguing that cutting the nutrient's overuse by most Americans could save thousands of lives annually.

Excessive salt in Americans' diets is a major factor in high blood pressure and increases risk for heart disease, while most Americans exceed recommended limits, according to health experts. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) cited these factors in urging stricter regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at a public hearing, held on Thursday at the FDA.

Trimming the salt content in processed and restaurant foods by half could save up to 150,000 lives a year by reducing heart-related disease, according to the consumer group, whose petition to the FDA prompted the public hearing.

Kim Dixon

I watched Mike Judge's Idiocracy last night. It would seem his satire, as is all too often the case, is uncomfortably close to reality.

Apparently most Americans are far too stupid to be trusted with deciding how much salt they should use. It is up to the national government to decide that for them. Every day and in every way, more of our freedoms fall away, yet the ignorant hordes still put the people who do this to us into positions of power. Marx was right, democracy is very much the road to socialism.