December 21, 2011, Los Angeles Times, Shari Roan
Feeding young babies solid foods such as crackers, cereals and bread, which tend to be high in salt, may set them up for a lifelong preference for salt, researchers reported Tuesday.
The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests that efforts to reduce salt intake among Americans should begin early in life.
It is even possible, the authors said, that infancy contains a “sensitivity window” in which exposure to certain foods and tastes programs the brain to desire them in the future.
Americans’ …

August 8, 2011,  WalesOnline, Madeleine Brindley
We know that too much salt isn’t good for us, but we’re still eating far more than we need. Health Editor Madeleine Brindley looks at our ongoing love affair with salt and what it’s doing to our health
EVERY time television chef Rick Stein adds a generous handful of salt, he tells the camera crew the salt police won’t like it.
While it’s debatable whether the salt police actually exist, there’s certainly been a high profile and ongoing campaign to gradually cut the amount of salt we …

July12, 2011, Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Corbett Dooren
A new study suggests that in addition to cutting the amount of sodium in their diets to improve heart health, Americans should also increase consumption of a key mineral found in many fruits and vegetables: potassium.
The study, lead by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, looked at more than 12,000 adults who participated in a federal nutrition study. It tracked their diets and followed them for nearly 15 years to observe rates of cardiovascular disease, heart attacks and death. The …

BBC News, Helen Briggs, November 2, 2010
Forcing food manufacturers to cut salt levels in processed food could help cut heart disease rates, claim Australian researchers.
A theoretical study suggests mandatory salt limits could help reduce heart disease rates by 18% – far more than by using existing voluntary measures.
High-salt diets are linked to high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks or strokes.
Adults are advised to consume a maximum of 6g of salt a day – about a teaspoon.
The study looked at the effectiveness of different strategies around the world …

WebMD, Kathleen Doheny, October 20, 2010
Despite constant pleas by public health experts to hold the salt, the sodium intake of the U.S. population hasn’t decreased over the past 46 years, according to a new review.
Most of us eat a lot more sodium than is recommended, says researcher Adam Bernstein, MD, ScD, a research fellow in the department of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
”We would support the recommendation for 1,500 milligrams-a-day intake,” Bernstein tells WebMD, referring to one of various guidelines. In his analysis, he found the …

Chicago Tribune, Monica Eng, July 21, 2010
Every five years the American public gets a newly tweaked directive on what we’re supposed to be eating.
And every five years the American public largely ignores it.
For example, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend we eat 2 1/2 cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit a day. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about 14 percent of adults are even coming close.
Special interest groups, however, watch the guidelines closely and are speaking out. Just last week, nearly …

The New York Times, May 29, 2010
With salt under attack for its ill effects on the nation’s health, the food giant Cargill kicked off a campaign last November to spread its own message.
“Salt is a pretty amazing compound,” Alton Brown, a Food Network star, gushes in a Cargill video called Salt 101. “So make sure you have plenty of salt in your kitchen at all times.”
The campaign by Cargill, which both produces and uses salt, promotes salt as “life enhancing” and suggests sprinkling it on foods as varied as chocolate …

Nutrition Action Healthletter Exposes 9 Caloric Heavyweights
May 24, 2010
WASHINGTON—Would you top a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizza with six Taco Bell Crunchy beef Tacos? And then eat the whole thing? Well, pass the Pepto-Bismol, please: The nutrition and food safety watchdogs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest today conferred its Xtreme Eating awards on nine items from seven American restaurant chains.
“One might think that chains like Outback Steakhouse and The Cheesecake Factory might want to lighten up their meals now that calories will be required on …

The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2010, Ron Winslow
Maybe that juicy steak you ordered isn’t a heart-attack-on-a-plate after all. (But still raises the risk of colon cancer sic.)
A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that the heart risk long associated with red meat comes mostly from processed varieties such as bacon, sausage, hot dogs and cold cuts—and not from steak, hamburgers and other non-processed cuts.
The finding is surprising because both types of red meat are high in saturated fat, a substance believed to be partly …

NZ Herald, Geoff Cumming, May 8, 2010
Salt may be a hidden killer but as health campaigners call for regulations, the picture keeps shifting. Geoff Cumming sifts through the evidence
Give the food police credit for trying. Knocked back on calls for maximum sugar limits, junk food advertising bans and school tuckshop restrictions, some health experts now want a government clampdown on the amount of salt we eat.
A call by the United States Institute of Medicine for the Obama Administration to impose maximum limits for salt content – and progressively lower them …