New York City to require high-salt label at chain restaurants in national first

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Salty fare from sandwiches to salads will soon come with a first-of-its-kind warning label at chain restaurants in New York City.

The city Board of Health voted unanimously Wednesday to require chain eateries to put salt-shaker symbols on menus to denote dishes with more than the recommended daily limit of 2,300mg of sodium. That’s about a teaspoon.

New York is the first US city with such a requirement, which comes as officials and experts urge Americans to eat healthier. It furthers a series of novel nutritional efforts in the nation’s biggest city.

City officials say they’re just saying “know”, not “no”, about foods high in a substance that experts say is too prevalent in most Americans’ diets, raising the risk of high blood pressure and potentially heart attacks and strokes. Public health advocates applaud the proposal, but salt producers and restaurateurs call it a misguided step toward an onslaught of confusing warnings.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/09/new-york-salt-warning-label-chain-restaurants

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Associated Press in New York
Wednesday 9 September 2015 16.59 BST

[yeoman6987]

1. We're only supposed to eat a teaspoon of salt a day?

Goodness. From the looks of things perhaps it would be easier to designate what doesn't need labeled. I think we will see most items with a salt shaker designation.

[Statistical]

2. Wouldn't the amount make more sense?

Otherwise I expect to see quite a few "healthy" dishes with 2299mg of sodium.

Honestly I don't see why calories, salt, sugar, and fat aren't simply of menu items like they are on packaged food. Well I know why but it is a much ado about nothing.

[SoapBox]

3. Yes! Sodium is my personal pet-peeve additive in food.

I've sworn for years that Big Food is trying to kill us with sodium.

If you are lucky enough to have"healthy" blood pressure levels, stick 2000 mg of sodium max daily, in your brain. THEN start reading labels...look at Servings per Container, Serving Size and Sodium per Serving. Then add up all the stuff you consume to get a ballpark total.

I guarantee you are in for a shocker!

And then start asking for lists in restaurants...you'll be a step shy of a coronary when you see sodium levels on that platter of food you've ordered...for fast food, you better be sitting down.

Whatever NYC does, is GOOD news on this front.

[trueblue2007]

4. N FEB OF THIS YEAR, i came down with congestive heart failure and can not go over 2,000 mg of sodium

[shenmue]

5. ...

[HubertHeaver]

6. I have that also. But keep in mind

the +-2000mg sodium is the minimum requirement. We have to have that much daily, just not per meal. A healthy body will regulate itself. Since we no longer have that, we have to regulate what we put in.

I saw a student's high school science demonstration about how much salt we actually consume vs minimum requirement. She had a small plate with one rounded teaspoon of salt to represent requirement and a dinnerplate, with a mound of salt, to represent actual consumption. The stuff is hidden everywhere.

In my younger days I was one of those who, if I couldn't see the salt, there wasn't enough.

[thecrow]

7. So sorry to hear that, trueblue.

I started eating less and less salt a couple years ago. My guy LOVES salt. I can't eat some of the food he prepares... it's just poisonous with salt! I actually put 50% salt in the shakers to try to get him to cut back.
Salt can kill you! My Dad had congestive Heart Failure (but he lived very close to 90) If he ate too much, he couldn't breathe because his lungs would start to fill with fluid. That's very dangerous! They loved to eat out, but my Mom would only let him eat 1/2 his dinner. I would hide the salt shaker. If he looked for it I would change the subject to distract him. It was sad. He had dementia, so it was easy to distract him, but then he'd ask for sale again 30 seconds later!

Seriously, I eat very little salt if at all. I can't eat out too much because my ankles will swell from the salt.
There is salt in everything almost so it's hard to get away from.... but I have noticed how flavorful vegetables can be with other condiments or even just by themselves. I used to bake salt free bread for Dad, because Mom fretted so over the salt content of bread. I even got her a bread machine, but she didn't use it. I learned to read the labels when buying bread, though. Soups are tough. One serving can have 850 mg of salt in it, and if you eat a whole can (2.5 servings in a can) the sodium adds up quickly.

It's like sugar withdrawal... it is only miserable for a day or so. Your taste buds can reset! I now drink tea without any sugar or substitutes in it. It was a hard decision to make, but I'm glad I did.

Stick to the diet! In time you will feel better for it.

[HubertHeaver]

8. First time I tried unsalted peanut butter it was like a kick in the mouth.

Now, commercial peanut butter is way to salty for me. Taste buds do adjust, food tastes better.

[thecrow]

9. I think it's too sweet

Yes, I find that food tastes better, too. I still use herbs and spices, so sodium and sugar is not such a great loss after a while.

[trueblue2007]

10. I do feel better. I don't miss salt anymore and don't crave it.

[thecrow]

11. Glad to hear it!

Keep looking forward

[Xithras]

12. FWIW, there's little actual evidence that salt is harmful to the human body.

There's been a real pushback in the scientific and medical communities over the past decade regarding the actual harm levels caused by salt. In a nutshell, one researcher in the 1970's found that rats fed extraordinarily high levels of salt every day developed high blood pressure, and decided that salt intake cause hypertension. The study gained political traction, lowering salt intake became a formal recommendation of the U.S. government in the late 1970's, and it simply became a commonly accepted truism that "salt is bad".

The problem with that notion is that nearly every major study since then, attempting to actually determine the mechanisms and safe thresholds for salt consumption, has found that the original research was WRONG and that no solid correlation between salt intake and hypertension exists. Most of the studies supporting a reduction in salt intake since then have been based off very high level studies of large populations (e.g. "The Japanese consume a lot of salt and have above average rates of hypertension and stroke, therefore salt must be the culprit&quot . Even these studies tend to fall apart when you look deeper and try to control for salt intake in the population itself, suggesting that the problem may be the result of other cultural forces.

In spite of the very real questions about the actual harm caused by salt, the U.S. government, the American Heart Association, and food activists of all stripes continue to recommend that salt intake be limited. Most doctors do too, recommending that salt intake be limited at the first sign of hypertension. Why? Because that's what they were taught in medical school.

But are they right? Maybe not...

http://www.salon.com/2013/05/27/is_salt_really_so_bad_for_your_health_partner/
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/06/more-scientists-doubt-salt-is-as-bad-for-you-as-the-government-says/
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/GeneralEndocrinology/49602
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/07/11/cdc-oops-salt-is-not-actually-dangerous-and-cutting-it-may-be-harmful/
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/27435/20150119/is-salt-getting-a-bad-rap-for-nothing-study-shows-more-salt-isnt-harmful.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/health/panel-finds-no-benefit-in-sharply-restricting-sodium.html
http://www.sciencealert.com/salt-probably-isn-t-as-bad-for-you-as-the-government-says-and-here-s-why
http://www.medicaldaily.com/cdc-salt-intake-guidelines-were-wrong-most-people-no-great-benefit-dramatically-reducing-dietary
http://news.nationalpost.com/health/shaking-up-what-we-think-about-salt-new-study-suggests-consuming-too-little-can-be-harmful

Legislation based on bad science is bad legislation.

[olddots]

13. we would be better off eating the packaging from fast food

than the " food. "