Salt Wars
The Battle Over the Biggest Killer in the American Diet
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
An exposé on how food industry lobbyists and a small group of scientists have successfully fought government efforts to reduce dangerous levels of sodium in our food
From the nutrition crusader and co-founder of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) who’s credited with coining the term "junk 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 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.
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, these scientists argue the opposite—that Americans 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 40 years, explains what science actually says about salt intake and rebuts the "sodium skeptics." He discusses what other countries are doing to cut dietary salt, and describes some recent victories in the United States.
He also advises readers how to reduce salt in their own diets, and calls on them to suit up for the next battle in the salt wars.
Customer Reviews
A surprisingly great read
As a physician, I learned that salt was harmful to people with high blood pressure, but the popular press articles of the 2010s stirred doubt about its overall effects. I knew I was “salt sensitive” and would suffer every night from severe thirst and frequent urination after the typical restaurant meal, but I thought most people experienced little harm from them.
This book presents powerful arguments about the population-level harms of salt. And it’s a surprisingly great read about what could be a dry (pun somewhat intended) topic. Jacobson presents compelling evidence for why opposition to sodium limits should join similar efforts for tobacco control, asbestos and lead elimination, and carbon reduction. Doubt is their product, and Jacobson’s book is their antidote.