{"id":2785,"date":"2008-05-27T21:51:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-27T21:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/fda-cuts-the-gras-on-salt.html"},"modified":"2016-09-21T10:36:06","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T14:36:06","slug":"fda-cuts-the-gras-on-salt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2785","title":{"rendered":"FDA Cuts the GRAS on Salt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know.
1) Excess salt consumption is linked to heart disease and stroke.
2) The Food and Drug Administration wants Americans to have fewer heart attacks and strokes. <\/div>\n
But their proposed solution to the problem is to consider changing the status of salt in the diet. The way they would do this is by revoking its classification — “generally recognized as safe”, or GRAS. This particular strategy was prompted by repeated petitions from groups who highlight the dangers of salt.<\/p>\n

Michael Jacobson, for example, is the executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), and considers salt no less than complete dietary disaster. Salt, he warns, “is the single most harmful element in the food supply, even worse than saturated fat and trans fat, or food additives and pesticides.” Most consider this quite an overstatement, but he continues that this “forgotten killer” can cause 150,000 deaths each year. It was the CSPI that petitioned the FDA to remove salt from the GRAS list.<\/p>\n

Of course, excess water consumption can kill you just as well, so should the FDA also cut the GRAS on water, and wine, and sugar, and everything you could possibly eat? In fact, there is no food on the planet that we cannot overconsume and make it bad for us in time. Thus, calling salt unsafe is overstated because salt is neither bad for us nor good for us until the moment when we either overconsume it, or eat it in control.<\/p>\n

But this entire issue is a bit of a misdirection. The average person gets only about 8% of their sodium from the shaker \u2013 at the table or the stove. Another 10% exists naturally in your foods, but a whopping 75% comes from the sodium packed into processed food and \u201cfast\u201d food products.<\/p>\n

This move by the FDA seems much less about the \u201crecognized safety\u201d of salt than as an indirect attempt to confront the food product industry without having to confront the food product industry. Such an approach is hoped to force food makers to replace the salt grenades (think Ramen Noodles) with some substitute not already linked to hypertension and stroke.<\/p>\n

But would a straightforward strategy be out of the question? What if we \u2013 and I\u2019m just throwing this out there \u2013 called salt safe and even healthy for us, until we eat it in massive quantities (think fast food). That way, food does not have to be labeled as the bad guy, no one need be confused about the source of hypertension, and the food industry can respond by putting less salt in their Noodles in the process. <\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s what we know.1) Excess salt consumption is linked to heart disease and stroke.2) The Food and Drug Administration wants Americans to have fewer heart attacks and strokes. But their … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[494],"tags":[385,366,329],"class_list":["post-2785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-blood-pressure","tag-fda","tag-salt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Qv5g-IV","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2771,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2771","url_meta":{"origin":2785,"position":0},"title":"Is the Low-Salt Diet worth its salt?","author":"Will Clower","date":"June 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Is nothing sacred? Can we count on no single facet of health advice?Listen to this stunning finding:Surprising new research suggests that a diet low in salt may be worse for your heart than eating lots of salt.In a study of 8,700 Americans, the 25 percent of the population who ate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"heart health\"","block_context":{"text":"heart health","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?tag=heart-health"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2102,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2102","url_meta":{"origin":2785,"position":1},"title":"What? Eating less salt DOESNT cut heart risks?","author":"Will Clower","date":"May 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Every time you think you know something in nutrition ... the rug gets pulled out from under you. Eggs, no eggs; margarine, no margarine; nuts, no nuts; and on and on.\u00a0And now, this study insists that higher salt consumption doesn't drive up your blood pressure! Even worse, the people in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-a2nXfBQJVGI\/TdfJq-Pz08I\/AAAAAAAADFc\/0r0kmmo5cAM\/s320\/SaltBloodPressure.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2585,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2585","url_meta":{"origin":2785,"position":2},"title":"Salt By Stealth","author":"Will Clower","date":"April 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Eat less salt, lower your risk of heart failure.We know this, but are often not coached very well on how to achieve it. For example, in this research report, researchers found that patients THINK they are lowering their salt by having a few less shakes on their food at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2776,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2776","url_meta":{"origin":2785,"position":3},"title":"Salt is Safe?","author":"Will Clower","date":"June 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Clower's Audio CommentaryIncredible. Data from this research study, shows that salt may not be as bad as we thought ... for high blood pressure and its ultimate effect as a contributor to heart attacks. The study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine says that people who eat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"audio commentary\"","block_context":{"text":"audio commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?tag=audio-commentary"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2011,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2011","url_meta":{"origin":2785,"position":4},"title":"RadioWill: Are we WRONG about salt and health?","author":"Will Clower","date":"August 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The President of the Salt Institute will be speaking with me about new data suggesting that we were wrong, wrong, wrong in our advice to cut salt consumption.\u00a0Click Here to listen live from noon-1:00pm EST ... and call in with your thoughts and questions for this amazing guest: 412.333.1360We will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SaltBloodPressure.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5754,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=5754","url_meta":{"origin":2785,"position":5},"title":"Heart Health Hangs A Left: About That Salt","author":"Will Clower","date":"February 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"All week, we're going off-road to explore heart health along paths you knew were there, but are definitely the road less traveled by conventional sources. Okay, so. The whole salt thing. It's true that too much sodium is bad ... but butting in with a huge BUT is the fact\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/iStock-495329922.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/iStock-495329922.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/iStock-495329922.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/iStock-495329922.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/mlcmmqmgggev.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/iStock-495329922.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3780,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785\/revisions\/3780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}