Regulate Salt, IOM Says

More regulatory efforts with little hope of succeeding.

The Institute of Medicine has called on the FDA to regulate the amount of salt added to foods and gradually decrease sodium content as American palates adjust to the change.

Public health and education campaigns have not worked, the authors of an IOM report argue, so a new model that levels the playing field industrywide is needed.

"The goal is to slowly, over time, reduce the sodium content of the food supply in a way that goes unnoticed by most consumers as individuals' taste sensors adjust to the lower levels of sodium," they wrote.

The IOM wants the FDA to amend the level of salt consumption generally recognized as safe (GRAS) to a safer one. Currently, the agency recommends no more than 2,300 mg per day, which amounts to about a teaspoon.

Most Americans, however, get 50% more than that, or about 3,400 mg per day.

According to a report in the Washington Post, the FDA will follow the recommendations with an initiative later this year that would lead to the first legally-enforceable limits on the amount of salt allowed in food products.

Really, if they wanted to regulate something that would make a real difference, wouldn't outlawing cigarettes be a better idea?

Or having fat people pay their own way?

Salt shakers/packets will likely remain on the tables at home and in restaurants.

Though this effort may be more "noble" and even reasonable than others, its chances of success are poor.

We will have to see.