Don't Take This With a Grain of Salt 1 Views by Scott LaFee

What do you think about this article? Rate it using the stars above and let us know what you think in the comments below.





The folks at the Food and Drug Administration may soon agree.



The FDA is considering a proposal to remove salt (sodium chloride) from its list of foods "generally recognized as safe" or GRAS. The reason: Americans, by and large, consume too much of the stuff, primarily in processed foods.







Excessive salt consumption is linked to high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart disease. The American Heart Association recommends a daily salt intake of less than 2,300 milligrams or about a teaspoon, but most Americans consume almost twice that each day.



By removing salt from the GRAS list, food manufacturers could be subject to limits on how much salt they could use in production. Food makers say such a change would profoundly impact their industry, causing them to reformulate virtually every recipe and food category.



Moreover, they say a less-salt mandate would be minimally effective, that Americans need to take other measures to reduce hypertension, such as eating more vegetables and fruit and reducing consumption of trans fats and alcohol.



BODY OF KNOWLEDGE



The knee is the most easily injured joint in the human body: More than 1.4 million Americans are admitted into hospitals each year with knee problems.



NEVER SAY DIET



The world's speed-eating record for quarter-pound hamburgers is 11.25 in 10 minutes, held by Don Lerman.



MEDTRONICA



Free medical journals



freemedicaljournals.com



Current subscriptions to most medical journals, such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet or the Journal of the American Medical Association, cost hundreds of dollars a year. But if you don't mind reading about research six months to a year after publication, you can get access to dozens of journals here.



STORIES FOR THE WAITING ROOM



Except as an excuse to visit the emergency room, the appendix has long defied medical explanations for its existence. It just sits there, attached to the beginning of the large intestine like a parasitical worm with no apparent effect upon digestion.



Now researchers at Duke University have come up with a proposed raison d'etre for the appendix: It's a safe house for beneficial bacteria.



Like many other organisms, humans depend on gut bacteria to aid digestion, produce nutrients and keep harmful microbes at bay. However, when we're sick, say with a bad case of diarrhea, good bacteria can be flushed away.



According to researchers, the appendix, which is safely removed from most intestinal ailments, is there to provide microbial seed stock for recovery.



PHOBIA OF THE WEEK



Mottephobia - fear of moths



BEST MEDICINE



Doctor to patient: "Well, Mrs. Jones, I'm afraid you're not quite as sick as we'd hoped."



OBSERVATION



Expensive medicines are always good - if not for the patient, at least for the druggist.



- Russian proverb



CURTAIN CALLS



In 1903, in Liverpool, England, an elderly man was following his 224-pound wife up some stairs in their house when she lost her balance and fell backward, hit her head on the floor and died instantly.



The husband lay trapped under his dead spouse for three days. When friends finally found the couple, he was dead, too.

According to Michael Jacobson , executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, salt is the single most harmful element in the food supply, worse even than saturated and trans fats.

If this article has helped you in some way, will you say thanks by sharing it through a share, like, a link, or an email to someone you think would appreciate the reference.