Reducing America's salt intake

At least that's the plan for New York City's Health Commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden. He has made a plea to Big Food, the corporations that provide the stuff we buy in the grocery store, to reduce sodium content in their products by 25% over the next 5 years and then by another 25% in the following 5 years. And he's thinking that this will end up helping our health as a nation.

It could be that Dr. Frieden is right to think so. He's been successful in previous campaigns regarding cooking with trans fats and posting calorie counts for restaurant menus. This time he is also joined by several other health departments in other states.

Although he has jurisdiction over only New York City, Dr. Frieden is presenting the plan as a “national salt-reduction initiative” that includes support from a half-dozen other health departments around the country and organizations like the American Medical Association.

I've no idea whether Texas or any of its local health departments has joined in the effort, but it would be interesting to find out.

Should we care?

Well, yes, because reducing dietary sodium is on of those healthy lifestyle changes that we are already being nagged about.

Well, also yes, because it's not easy to find low sodium alternatives at the grocery store. You can buy fresh--which is expensive, requires refrigeration, and is time consuming to prepare (not that there's anything wrong with that). You can buy frozen--which can be expensive, requires a freezer, and may require thawing before cooking (not that there's anything wrong with that). Canned goods of any sort are often cheaper, easier to store, and easier to prepare. Finding canned goods with less that a zillion grams of sodium per serving is the challenge.

Living a healthy lifestyle ought to be easy. Instead, the reverse is true. If Frieden can add some pressure to Big Food to think that healthy should be the norm instead of the specialty item, then more power to him.