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June 16, 2010

Dispatch: Don’t Get So Salty

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is revamping the government’s popular food pyramid, with new recommendations emphasizing plant-based diets with plenty of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk products and a reduction in daily sodium intake. The committee now recommends consuming no more than 1,500 mg of sodium; the current standard is 2,300 mg.

ACSH’s nostalgic Dr. Gilbert Ross reminisces about the days of medicine when “we used to put only patients with heart failure and fluid retention states on low-sodium diets, which at that time was considered 2,000 mg per day — still 500 mg higher than the committee’s new recommendation for all Americans.”

The advisory panel noted that it will be “challenging to achieve the lower level,” and ACSH’s Jeff Stier agrees. “If manufacturers follow these guidelines, the salt shaker will attain an ever greater presence at the dinner table.”

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Founded in 1978, ACSH is a consumer advocacy organization directed and advised by over 350 physicians, scientists and policy advisors. ACSH promotes the use of sound, peer-reviewed science in the formation of a full  spectrum of  public health policies, including those related to food, pharmaceuticals, environmental chemicals, lifestyle factors, consumer products and terrorism preparedness and response.