Dietary Guidelines: With a Grain of Big Salt

The Salt Institute was probably the most strident in their condemnation of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, complaining that the chair of the committee was a “vocal proponent” of universal salt reduction.

Case in point: she was quoted by the American Heart Association about a CDC report about the dangers of salt. Obviously, this means she has an “unhealthy prejudice” against salt. That’s like the tobacco industry complaining that the people at the American Lung Association are biased against smoking.

Because cheese is one of the top ten contributors of sodium in the American diet, the National Dairy Council stood shoulder to shoulder with Big Salt.

Sure, reducing sodium intake would save the lives of up to 92,000 Americans a year, but you Dietary Guidelines Committee people just don’t understand; salt is needed to maintain the expected flavor, body, texture, and shelf life of cheese. It’s like trans fats: good for shelf life; bad for human life.

They all tried blaming each other for America’s dietary ills. The egg producers argued that meat was worse; the pork producers argued that chicken was worse.

Then there was a letter from the CDPB, though, the California Dried Plum Board—representing Big Prune. It must be nice to work for a food trade group, and actually be able to look at yourself in the mirror every day. Alas, though, it’s not a total slam dunk, as “in the school environment,” evidently, “peer pressure makes eating [prunes] ‘not cool’.”

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Image thanks to DaGoaty / Flickr