I agree that, if sustained throughout the lifecourse, then moderate consumption of salt and sugar is not harmful. I wrote this sentence with metabolic syndrome in mind—this affects very many people as they get older.
On salt: I agree that salt is essential and not new to human diets, and that for the majority of people reducing sodium by a lot is harmful.
However, many people have high blood pressure and should avoid excessive sodium consumption [see study, study]. Also, many scholars argue that salt can be described as addictive [see ‘Salt addiction hypothesis’] and some implicate it in making food hyperpalatable (also see ‘The Hungry Brain’ by a former OPP consultant).
On sugar: the WHO recommends a reduced intake of free sugars throughout the lifecourse.
Not sure what you mean that people harm themselves (you mean that they mess with their basal metabolic rate? I think this is only happens in extreme cases, not when, say, just cutting out sugar sweetened beverages). Thinking about this in terms of the reversal test, recommending increasing sugar intake (which is happening anyway) does not make sense to me on average.
Were you under the impression that I was disagreeing with the sodium-reduction guidelines because I was merely unaware that they existed? This is an area of considerable controversy.
Were you under the impression that I was disagreeing with the sodium-reduction guidelines because I was merely unaware that they existed?
No, my model of your view is that you were aware of the guidelines, but believe that sodium-reduction guidelines are on net harmful. Am I correct?
Both too little and too much salt is bad, but based on two the more recent meta-analyses I linked above, that deal with this controversy in the Ioannidis article you linked, I think the WHO salt reduction guidelines are on net good.
As a rule, public health messaging should be tell people to watch their salt intake to reduce their blood pressure, because:
average salt consumption is much higher than the WHO recommends
it will likely increase due to profit motives absent policy interventions
many more people with high blood pressure will benefit than people with low blood pressure would be harmed because they adapt a very low sodium diet on the basis of sodium reduction guidelines
I agree that, if sustained throughout the lifecourse, then moderate consumption of salt and sugar is not harmful. I wrote this sentence with metabolic syndrome in mind—this affects very many people as they get older.
On salt: I agree that salt is essential and not new to human diets, and that for the majority of people reducing sodium by a lot is harmful.
However, many people have high blood pressure and should avoid excessive sodium consumption [see study, study]. Also, many scholars argue that salt can be described as addictive [see ‘Salt addiction hypothesis’] and some implicate it in making food hyperpalatable (also see ‘The Hungry Brain’ by a former OPP consultant).
On sugar: the WHO recommends a reduced intake of free sugars throughout the lifecourse.
Not sure what you mean that people harm themselves (you mean that they mess with their basal metabolic rate? I think this is only happens in extreme cases, not when, say, just cutting out sugar sweetened beverages). Thinking about this in terms of the reversal test, recommending increasing sugar intake (which is happening anyway) does not make sense to me on average.
Were you under the impression that I was disagreeing with the sodium-reduction guidelines because I was merely unaware that they existed? This is an area of considerable controversy.
No, my model of your view is that you were aware of the guidelines, but believe that sodium-reduction guidelines are on net harmful. Am I correct?
Both too little and too much salt is bad, but based on two the more recent meta-analyses I linked above, that deal with this controversy in the Ioannidis article you linked, I think the WHO salt reduction guidelines are on net good.
As a rule, public health messaging should be tell people to watch their salt intake to reduce their blood pressure, because:
average salt consumption is much higher than the WHO recommends
it will likely increase due to profit motives absent policy interventions
many more people with high blood pressure will benefit than people with low blood
pressure would be harmed because they adapt a very low sodium diet on the basis of sodium reduction guidelines