In the wake of the new Institute of Medicine report, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (AKA the “Food Police”) admits its drastic dietary salt recommendations are baseless.
In January 2011, CSPI said, for example:
The Center for Science in the Public Interest says that Americans should aim to consume no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day—far less than either the 2,300 mg recommended by the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, or the 4,000 mg of sodium that the average adult currently consumes. CSPI is supporting a new advisory from the American Heart Association, published in the journal Circulation, which calls on the “public, health professionals, the food industry, and the government to intensify efforts to reduce the amount of sodium (salt) Americans consume daily.” [Emphasis added]
This week in response to the IOM report, CSPI admitted:
The committee found too little evidence to say whether the safest intake—the green zone—is below 2,300 milligrams a day or below 1,500 milligrams a day. What the committee failed to emphasize is that most Americans are deep in the red zone, consuming 3,500 to 4,000 milligrams of sodium a day. It’s clear that those excessive levels increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes. Whether we aim for 2,300 or 1,500 milligrams a day is irrelevant until we move down out of the red zone.
Michael Jacobson has always been semi reasonable. He did after all dismiss the fears about GM food as baseless.
So if the lower limits can’t be supported, why is the so called “red” level to be trusted?
I’m interested in the views here, not CSPI, Am Heart, or US….
Need some syrup to go with your waffle? More weasle words in that PR than I can count.
But the consequenses were so serious that we had to take steps before the science was settled don’tcha know…