Within the U.S government, The Agriculture and Health and Human Services department issues new dietary guidelines. The U.S government is telling half of the American population to drastically cut their daily salt intake. These guidelines are issued every five years and are directed and told to people who are 51 and older, all African-Americans, and anyone suffering from hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. The main message sent out to this group is to "reduce daily sodium intake to little more than a teaspoon". This group includes roughly half of the population. The rest of the population is told to limit to about a teaspoon of salt or 2,300 milligrams of salt. Some of the ways to reduce salt intake include: Reading nutrition labels closely, buy items low in salt, use very little or no salt when cooking, consume more fresh or home-prepared foods so they know exactly what they are eating, ask that salt not be added to foods at restaurants, and gradually reduce salt intake over time to get used to the taste. These were featured in the dietary guidelines. The Institute of Medicine says, "It could take to get used to the taste of a lower-salt diet" and the Food and Drug Administration says, "it will pressure companies to take voluntary actions before it moves to regulate salt intake". Most of the assault on salt is aimed directly at the food industry and it is unclear if the industries will be able to cut enough to satisfy the new guidelines.
My Opinion of Article:
I strongly agree with the U.S government and the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments. A good amount of our population is overweight with high cholesterol due to the over-intake of salt. I also believe that these guidelines are important reminder that everyone should keep with them, healthy or not. Today, tons of fast food restaurants put so much salt into their foods. While this tastes good, it is very bad for you as it contains a high amount of salt. In order to make a big change in our health in regards to salts, we have to force fast foods to only use a certain amount of salt. This might not taste the best and might be a work in progress in the fast food business, but it is the only way to fix our world's cholesterol. I feel if we not only limit our salts in our home-made meals, follow the dietary guidelines, and monitor the level of salts in fast food restaurants, only then will we be able to solve our world's cholesterol issues.
