Salt Wars: The Battle Over the Biggest Killer in the American Diet - Softcover

Jacobson, Michael F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 026254282X ISBN 13: 9780262542821

Verlag: The MIT Press, 2021

Inhaltsangabe

How food industry lobbyists and a small group of scientists have successfully fought government efforts to reduce dangerous levels of sodium in our food.

A high-sodium diet is deadly; studies have linked it to high blood pressure, strokes, and heart attacks. It's been estimated that excess sodium in the American diet causes as many as 100,000 deaths deaths and many billions of dollars in avoidable health-care costs each year. And yet salt is everywhere in our diets—in packaged foods, fast foods, and especially meals at table-service restaurants. Why hasn't salt received the sort of public attention and regulatory action that sugar and fat have? In Salt Wars, Michael Jacobson explains how the American food industry and a small group of scientists have successfully fought government efforts to reduce dangerous levels of sodium in our food.
Despite an abundance of research going back more than half a century showing that high-sodium diets lead to hypertension and other ills, a few scientists argue the opposite—that American consume a healthy amount of salt and that eating less would increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. This “man bites dog” take on sodium confused consumers and was enthusiastically taken up by food industry lobbyists. Jacobson, a salt wars combatant for more than forty years, explains what science actually says about salt intake and rebuts “sodium skeptics.” He discusses what other countries are doing to cut dietary salt, and describes some recent victories in the United States. He advises readers how to reduce salt—warning them against “salt bombs” (Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup, for example, packs an entire day's worth of sodium in one can)—and calls on them to suit up for the next battle in the salt wars.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Michael F. Jacobson is Cofounder of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. After serving as Codirector or Executive Director of CSPI for more than four decades, he is now a consultant to the organization. He is the author of Six Arguments for a Greener Diet and other books.
 

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: The MIT Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 026254282X
• ISBN 13: 9780262542821
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 296
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar