Bad Science: CDC Forced to Reverse its Recommendations on Salt

by Michelle Minton on July 17, 2013

Mother may know best, but Uncle Sam certainly doesn’t.

In 1977, the federal government put a warning label on saccharine, claiming it caused cancer. It took only 20 years to to admit this was wrong. Then there’s the so-called Healthy Food Pyramid created by the USDA to advise Americans on the composition of a supposedly healthy diet. Although many still follow the recommendations of the food pyramid, it has since been questioned by researchers and nutritionist and even cited as a potential factor in America’s skyrocketing rate of obesity. Now we have another example of bad advice — government recommendations on sodium intake.

For years, public health advocates, politicians, and government agencies such as the FDA, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been cajoling Americans to cut their salt intake and pressuring food makers to comply with salt-reduction programs. Agencies recommended we cut sodium consumption to less than 2,300 mg a day. In May, the CDC was forced to admit this advice was wrong as well. A report commissioned by the CDC and conducted by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies found no evidence to support this previous advice….To Read More….