Michael F. Jacobson
MIT Press, 296 pages, $26.95
It will not surprise you in the slightest that there’s a white crystal scourge eroding the health and mental wellbeing of the nation. It might however surprise you to know that you, dear reader, almost certainly consumed too much of this dangerous substance yesterday. I’m not saying that this is how you got it, but they slip it into your chicken soup.
Whether delivered as a crystal or a powder, this white substance harms everyone, but is worst for working class and vulnerable communities. That’s one reason why the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) along with other health and welfare groups has, for decades, tried to bring consumption down to at least a reasonable scale, battling to limit its uncontrollable sale and consumption. This has been to little avail as the experience of consuming this substance enshrined in many ancient cultures is delightful and it makes everything else better.
By Michael Jacobson
MIT Press. 275 pp. $26.95
A year after I quit eating sugar and flour in an effort to slay my food demons, I read a section of my medical chart that compared my latest blood-test results with earlier ones. Good cholesterol: way up! Bad cholesterol: way down! It was so satisfying to see that hard data, even if it was in a measure of health that I habitually ignored.
The promise of better cholesterol readings would never have motivated me to change my diet. It took years of accumulated misery around mirrors to make me quit pie. This is one reason itâs hard to get people to care about something as invisible as sodium intake. If high blood pressure caused double chins, sodium-reduction advocates might stand a fighting chance. But for most people, salt remains highly ignorable until a cardiologist or a stroke forces the issue.
Book World: Salt is the dietary danger that s easy to ignore
Karen Sandstrom, The Washington Post
Dec. 11, 2020
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Salt Wars: The Battle Over the Biggest Killer in the American Diet
By Michael Jacobson
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A year after I quit eating sugar and flour in an effort to slay my food demons, I read a section of my medical chart that compared my latest blood-test results with earlier ones. Good cholesterol: way up! Bad cholesterol: way down! It was so satisfying to see that hard data, even if it was in a measure of health that I habitually ignored.