Should the government regulate what we eat?

The New York City health Department has decided to regulate another ingredient in packaged food and restaurant meals.  This time the city is going after salt.  The health department has asked for a 25% reduction in the amount of salt in packaged foods and restaurant meals over the next five years.  The reasoning behind this regulation is to prevent heart attacks and strokes by reducing the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant foods.

We consume roughly twice the recommended amount of salt every day and this overconsumption leads to high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.  Research has shown that we are not getting that sodium in our diets because we are shaking salt on our own food.  Only 11% of the salt we ingest comes from salt we put in our own food; nearly 80% is added to foods before they are sold. So we are getting the sodium from restaurants and the freezer section of the grocery store.

As an example a half cup of Campbell’s low sodium soup contains 480 mg of sodium.  That 480 mg is the limit per serving for children.  When you get home tonight look at a 1/2 cup measuring cup and see just how small it is.

Of course the obvious answer is to eat more food at home. You know that is what I want you to do; I try to make it easy for you.  We don’t have much disagreement about the salt content of an apple. But I’m realistic and know many of you will eat “outside” food.  So..what do you think?

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So what did you think? Is this information useful? Did you agree with it? Let me know!