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FDA To Legally Restrict Salt In Food
- Thread starter daw840
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I don't like this measure, simply because there's insufficient compelling evidence (from what I can see) that demonstrates a link between salt and heart disease when other factors are controlled.
I am however totally in favour of increased government regulation of the food that is sold to consumers. A lack of regulation has been tried for decades, and all it's shown is that people cannot make responsible decisions for themselves in this manner. If this needs to be done centrally, then do it centrally.
I am however totally in favour of increased government regulation of the food that is sold to consumers. A lack of regulation has been tried for decades, and all it's shown is that people cannot make responsible decisions for themselves in this manner. If this needs to be done centrally, then do it centrally.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I'm simply baffled at the number of GAFfers that Know What's Best" for everyone and actually want to put that into law as though there are no unfortunate implications at all at legislating what people are allowed to eat.grumble said:
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
The best part is the thinly veiled guise that people are using to justify this that poor people are apparently incapable of giving a shit about their health; I have no idea why we are treating Americans like dogs that will eat anything that will fall on the floor.MedHead said:
This is the worst idea ever, especially in light of the fact there's no solid evidence that lowering sodium intake by a vague, undefined amount is going to have any relevant impact on overall health. But fuck it, let's just ban everything.
titiklabingapat
Member
I would usually say to give the responsibility to the parent/individual, but like HFCS, manufacturers usually overdo salt. almost everything, including restaurants, uses too much salt as a cost effective of masking the use of low quality ingredients.
Angry Grimace said:
It's a cost-benefit scenario. People have CLEARLY demonstrated their incredible incompetence at eating healthy food, and it requires regulation at this point. If someone keeps cutting their wrists, you keep them from cutting their wrists and get them to seek help. At the very least, reducing salt content will show the true flavours of processed food more clearly and encourage people do make better choices.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
YoungHav said:
Yeah why is this? Why do these foods have so much sodium?
captmcblack
Member
mckmas8808 said:
Flavor, and ability to serve as a preservative.
You can use cheaper stuff to make things, use flavor-enhancing/spoilage-fighting agents like salt and MSG, and sell stuff that is "delicious", profitable and long-lasting.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
How is it a cost-benefit scenario at all? You can't even make a scientifically-agreed upon argument that low sodium diets are efficacious in providing better overall health.grumble said:
It's such a smug, arrogant attitude where everyone is too stupid for their own good. Especially that "Cutting their own wrists" comparison; are you fucking kidding me? That's the most inapplicable, idiotic exaggeration of a comparison yet.
People don't HAVE to eat healthy food. The stupidest part of this argument is that in reality, the baseline problem is that people eat far too many calories (of which the FDA also has a recommended daily limit and which excess consuption of which is obviously more responsible for poor health); why aren't we cutting those?
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Shard said:
So how does the lack of fat take the flavor out of foods? What does fat have to do with better taste?
captmcblack
Member
grumble said:
They already taste terrible, but at least with the ultrasalt/fat/MSG/synthetic flavor content they can at least taste more like food than cardboard.
Man, they so need to pass this legislature and then spice it up with sugar/HFCS rules too. Seriously. There should be something done about all the goddamn corn that is put into everything too (since that also has a lot to do with American obesity/digestive issues, et al)...but the farmers would riot and kill us all.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Is this a real question?mckmas8808 said:
Fat isn't a random byproduct in good tasting food; fat itself tastes good. Ever wonder why a highly marbled steak tastes like 50 times better than a piece of crap meat from your local supermarket?
VALIS said:
Because salt added on top of cooked food is totally the same as salt used during cooking that undergoes complex and very specific chemical reactions.
Do you think it would be acceptable to add eggs on top of a cake when you suddenly realize, after it's baked, that you forgot to include the eggs?
You've clearly never cooked anything in your entire life if this is a viable option to you - be it with any ingredient.
captmcblack said:
They already have the pitchforks!
And seriously, why the fuck is there corn in my dog's dog food? Why is there corn in my guinea pig's guinea pig food? Neither animal eats corn. Neither animal should eat corn.
Angry Grimace said:
That comment was directed more towards eating habits in general. Yes, I think eating the way people are doing is self-harm, even though it might feel good for whatever reason, and I think that the wrist cutting thing is a reasonable analogy. You don't HAVE to do anything. You can go out and shoot someone in the face right now. We used to be controlled by our environment, but now we have our environment controlled. Now we'll have to control ourselves, even though it's a bitch.
Agreed that caloric excess is the main issue, but I'm in favour of supporting measures to get people eating nutritious food as well. I said earlier in this thread that I don't like this idea without there being better evidence regarding salt, but am in favour of regulating food more in general.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
MSG is another ingredient that everyone decided was evil voodoo poison that turned out later to be harmless.captmcblack said:
way more
Member
If people really are upset about this they are trying way too hard to be mad about something. I figured Fox News would spin this to make it look like Michele Obama would personally raid your house and break shit as she confiscated your salt. So you get 5% less salt on your Ritz Crackers, boo hoo.
This is about as nanny state as requiring cars to have seat belts.
This is about as nanny state as requiring cars to have seat belts.
captmcblack
Member
Mudkips said:
Would fries that were cooked in salty oil taste better than fries that were salted after being cooked, then?
[EDIT: @nyong, why wouldn't you be able to have a salty burger and salty fries with a beer at a pub? This is what I don't understand - there is nothing here that bans anything! Nothing is different except that you won't have 75% of the day's salt intake in your bag of chips or 20% of it in a bottle of Gatorade.]
It's slowly starting to sink in just how different this generation is from the last. There really seems to be a general consensus among younger folks that this is a good thing, and that further government intervention would be an even better thing.
While I may not be able to have my salty burger/fries and pint of beer at the pub in the not-too-distant-future, I still have my violent videogames.
(for now)
While I may not be able to have my salty burger/fries and pint of beer at the pub in the not-too-distant-future, I still have my violent videogames.
(for now)
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Um, what? No, you can't go out and shoot someone in the face...is there some reason you keep making arguments by making incredibly exaggerated, faulty comparisons which have no bearing on anything? :lol Even more bizarre is that you're saying "Now we'll have to control ourselves, even though it's a bitch," except that's the opposite of what you're advocating.grumble said:
The problem here is the assumption that people would give a shit if they "knew better," when in reality, most people probably DO know better, but they don't care. Why are we imposing what we care about on everyone else?
captmcblack said:
No, they would taste worse.
The salt in the oil would affect it's performance in frying the potatoes, and they would not impart the same flavor you expect.
Recipes aren't just a combination of ingredients in a specified proportion.
They involve specific processing steps, time, and order.
Would your burger and fries and shake taste good if you just put beef, potatoes, oil, salt, flour, egg, milk, cream, water, and sugar in a blender?
Mr. B Natural
Member
mckmas8808 said:
salt is a preservative. It's the original preservative. Rather than your food going bad in panera, they shove 1500 mgs of sodium into their sandwiches so they can serve it to you again the next day.
They're literally making their food unnecessarily unhealthy to save a dime.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
But a) obesity ISN'T an illness and b) fat people get fat because they eat a lot of food, not because they eat too much sodium.Zenith said:
The only link between getting fat and sodium has to do with eating a shit-ton of food. If you eat 123470198790150 helpings of anything, you're going to have more than your "daily allowance" of sodium.
I work out every morning at the crack of dawn and carefully watch my calories; does this mean that everyone else should do this because it's "healthy?"
EmCeeGramr
Member
yes why on earth would a nation want its citizens to be healthier and live longer
clearly they're setting us up for the slave camps *injects HFCS into family's arteries* eat up kids, the socialists will be here soon. they'll take you to the death camps for being too fat, but at least you won't have to work in a *shudder* arugula field
clearly they're setting us up for the slave camps *injects HFCS into family's arteries* eat up kids, the socialists will be here soon. they'll take you to the death camps for being too fat, but at least you won't have to work in a *shudder* arugula field
chaostrophy
Member
I like Lay's response- bold potato chip innovation, rather than whining about the possible regulation.
captmcblack
Member
Mudkips said:
No, they wouldn't.
...but I surmise they'd still taste great if the burger patty was prepared with 50% less salt before grilling/frying it, and if the fries were salted to (my) taste after cooking, and the milkshake was made with real milk and real ice cream as opposed to that weird powder/paste/gum combination that is used at most fast food places.
titiklabingapat
Member
That's probably because the older generation's system was tried and already fucked us over. I'm not gonna apologize for anything.nyong said:
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I love that thing where people try to strawman EVERYTHING into some kind of preposterous, untenable slippery-slope argument to avoid actually discussing a real violation of personal liberty.EmCeeGramr said:
CharlieDigital
Banned
chaostrophy said:
This should be noted:
The salt crystals on potato chips only dissolve about 20 percent of the way on the tongue, while the center of each tiny cube-shaped crystal remains intact until after it's swallowed. Thus, most of the salt you're eating on your chips is not contributing to the taste of the chip, but it is dissolving further down your digestive tract and causing whatever the FDA alleges that increased dietary sodium intake causes.
The redesigned salt crystal, with more surface area, should dissolve completely on the tongue, thus theoretically allowing each chip to taste just as salty with only 20 percent as much salt.
The redesigned salt crystal, with more surface area, should dissolve completely on the tongue, thus theoretically allowing each chip to taste just as salty with only 20 percent as much salt.
Mr. B Natural
Member
Angry Grimace said:
What argument are you making here? You seem all over the place here.
It's not about being fat. It's about being healthy. Being unhealthy will cause health issues. Health issues cost america too much money. It's not the stomachs of americans our government is and should be concerned about. It's our health and thus our health risk. It's generally a good indication when it comes to calories, but not when it comes to sodium.
captmcblack
Member
Angry Grimace said:
There's a violation of personal liberty being discussed here?
What were people able to do before that they aren't going to be able to do now?
way more
Member
Angry Grimace said:
They are going to put less sodium in Spam, Big Macs, and Twinkies. This isn't a issue of personal liberty. Nobody is going to say you can't use salt when you cook at your house. Christ, is finding fault with government really that hard that people are trying to say this is an assault on liberty?
Dreams-Visions
Member
they also use it because of the naturally addictive properities of salt.titiklabingapat said:
keeps 'em coming back.
http://www.medical-library.net/salt_addiction.html
http://www.hyp.ac.uk/cash/health/faqs.htm
nyong said:
Some people with specific health problems have been found to have higher than normal salt intake.
Many people with no marked health problems have been found to have higher than normal salt intake.
Many people with other specific health problems have been found to have lower than normal salt intake.
People with lower than normal salt intake have been show to have a higher risk of those same (other) specific health problems.
Increased salt intake has not been shown to cause any specific health problem.
Decreased salt intake has, and we understand the biology and chemistry of why.
It is a scientific absurdity to claim that salt causes heart disease.
There is simply no evidence to back that claim up.
It's the equivalent of the following logical absurdity:
1: Notice that some people with long eyelashes wear red shirts.
2: Notice that more people who wear red shirts don't have long eyelashes.
3: Claim wearing red shirts causes you to have long eyelashes.
zoku88 said:
So if they forget to add those chemicals during processing and cooking, I can just ask for a packet and sprinkle it on myself and get the same result? If that's not what you're claiming (I won't assume that this is what you're claiming, because then I'd be assuming you were a moron), then I fail to see any point in your statement that chemicals affect the taste of food. Really? Wow, I didn't realize that every ingredient in every food item ever was chemically-based, underwent chemical reactions during cooking, tasting, eating, and digestion.
I better stay away from those evil american corpor...chemicals!
CrayzeeCarl
Member
That is awesome.CharlieDigital said:
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