Bloomberg Doesn’t Practice What He Preaches, Breaks Mold of Typical Politician/Billionaire Arrogance

Our salt crusading mayor is never one to disappoint for a great demonstration of hypocrisy, seen here devouring a neatly packed bundle of nitrates with a Brit.

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One Politician on a Mission

Although I might disagree with using his money to buy and re-write the NYC lawbooks, Mayor Bloomberg is quite the pioneer of the salt crusade. Anything Governor Patterson touches died of dysentery back in Albany (like the soda tax did last year, let’s hope it doesn’t suffer the same fate in 2010), but Bloomberg is fulfilling his healthcare platform manifest destiny and actually gaining some ground.

“Sixteen food companies plan to cut the amount of salt in bacon, flavored rice, and dozens of other products as part of a national effort to reduce Americans’ sodium consumption by 20 percent.

Mars Foods said it would cut the salt in its Uncle Ben’s rices by 25 percent over five years.

Lanette Kovachi, corporate dietitian for Subway, said the sandwich chain has cut sodium by 30 percent in its European outlets and is working on reducing salt in its US restaurants..

Heinz had announced it would reduce sodium by 15 percent in all the ketchup it sells in the United States, starting May 1. Heinz said the move is part of an ongoing commitment to sodium reduction. Heinz has cut sodium in Bagel Bites snacks 20 percent, for example.”

Salt for Thought: Diets high in sodium increase blood pressure that, in turn, increases the risks for a stroke or heart attack. This classic preservative, essential electrolyte, and craving tamer, surprisingly, occurs enough in foods naturally that any added salt, whether it’s by a food manufacturer or at the kitchen table, is superfluous.

Mayor Bloomberg: One Uber-Powerful Politician to Rule Them All

Command and you shall receive, Mayor Bloomberg. Just like you demanded (and paid for) the third and unprecedented term as mayor of our great city, your tenacity in the salt lowering crusade has convinced the FDA to plan unprecedented measures to slowly reduce sodium and eventually implement the first legal limits to the amount of salt allowed in foods.

“The government intends to work with the food industry and health experts to reduce sodium gradually over a period of years to adjust the American palate to a less salty diet, according to FDA sources..

‘This is a 10-year program,’ one source said. ‘This is not rolling off a log. We’re talking about a comprehensive phase-down of a widely used ingredient. We’re talking about embedded tastes in a whole generation of people.’

Currently, manufacturers can use as much salt as they like in products because under federal standards, it falls into the category deemed ‘generally recognized as safe.’ Foodmakers are merely required to report the amount on nutrition labels.”

GRAS seems to be the allspice of terminology for the FDA because almost every additive is listed as such including caffeine, high fructose corn syrup, tons of chemical additives and, ironically, allspice.

In other news, Reuters feels the top hit for news related to this story should be “Majority of American’s distrust the government” (see picture above). Have yee of little faith in the FDA, Reuters? Let’s hope the government can prove them wrong, never too late to start.

So.. Is it Bad or What?!

The great salt debate is trucking along and the New York Times would like to paint you a positive yet somehow grim, mostly “we have no idea so let’s throw everything in there” picture of Americans on a less salty diet.

“A) More than 44,000 deaths would be prevented annually (as estimated recently in The New England Journal of Medicine).
B) About 150,000 deaths per year would be prevented annually (as estimated by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene).
C) Hundreds of millions of people would be subjected to an experiment with unpredictable and possibly adverse effects (as argued recently in The Journal of the American Medical Association).
D) Not much one way or the other.
E) Americans would get even fatter than they are today.”

Right off the bat, any weight gain would be attributed to lack of self-control. In fact, cutting a significant portion of added salt from processed foods out of your diet will not only make you feel slimmer, it could also help drop those last few vanity pounds.

At least they threw in some statistics before the painfully generic and doomsday “unpredictable and possibly adverse effects.” Since when is cutting out excess amounts of a product that is a major contributor to hypertension, stroke, heart and kidney disease, among others, a bad thing?

Thank you, NYT, for compiling potential consequences from various credible resources that not only backhandedly compliment the salt reduction efforts of our great mayor and the CSPI but also presenting a dreary and foreboding forecast of the “potentially harmful” effects on society.

Good health and nutrition analysts must be hard to come by these days. Is smoking good or bad for you? Let’s go with both.

Shake It Like a Hypertension Causing Salt Shaker

Even though he doesn’t practice the healthy lifestyle he preaches (according to the NYTimes, his favorite snack is Cheez-its, he dumps salt on saltines, and houses PB&B—peanut butter and bacon—sandwiches), Michael Bloomberg has inadvertently been increasing New Yorkers’ life expectancy and health conscientiousness. It started with the ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, went on to the trans-fat battle, continued with calorie disclosure, and has now arrived at salt—and for good reason.

“Many processed foods contain too much salt, and sauces, spreads, and processed meats are the top offenders, new research shows..

Sauces and spreads, at 1,283 mg per 100 g, and processed meats, at 846 mg per 100 g, were the categories with the highest average sodium content.

Sodium content was lowest for cereals (206 mg per 100 g) and fruits and vegetables (211 mg per 100 g). Nearly two-thirds of the 33 food categories had average sodium concentrations that were higher than the maximum standards set by the UK Food Standards Agency, while breads, processed meats, sauces and canned vegetables included many subcategories above these targets.”

For your reference, a food is considered high in sodium if it contains more than 500mg per 100g.

Salt reduction programs can help Americans slow the onset of or even avoid chronic diseases such as high blood pressure at a fraction of the cost of hypertension drug therapies.

Salt, among its laundry list of attributes, is most notably a great preservative and taste enhancer. Sure, the food manufacturers might not be too pleased that they now have to change around formulas, but the drug manufacturers might be the most resistant to potential sodium regulations. Without chronic illnesses like high blood pressure constantly turning around profits, the drug companies won’t make as much money on hypertension medication.

World domination might have to wait until tomorrow night, Pinky. Hopefully they’ll keep those ridiculous commercials around for satirical value.

Dining Out 101

It’s no secret that dining out can pack on the pounds. Turns out there are even some lawsuits based upon restaurant negligence to disclose the ingredients in some of their dishes.

The truth is, nobody’s being force-fed. If you go out and eat something that looks and tastes like a heart attack with a side of high cholesterol, you have nobody to blame for eating it but yourself. I do, however, agree that there is a level of social responsibility that restaurants and food manufacturers alike should take upon themselves, given the alarming statistic that 2 out of 3 Americans are overweight.

Here are some things you can look out for:

-It’s time to join Bloomberg on the salt-less bandwagon. Some restaurants serve meals that include more a day’s worth of sodium. Soup, shrimp, and appetizer dips are the most popular high-sodium offenders. If you have to eat salt, counter it with some Potassium like a banana or cantaloupe.

-Vitamin water has almost the same amount of sugar as soda. This is not a surprise, what else do you think that carboholic’s-delight-in-a-bottle could be?

-The “healthy alternatives” section of the local Generic Possessive Noun’s restaurant chain may not be as healthy of an alternative.

“A recent E.W. Scripps lab investigation found that “responsible” menu items at chains ranging from Chili’s to Taco Bell may have up to twice the calories and eight times the fat published in the restaurants’ nutritional information.”

Bloomberg Continues Commitment to Health Crusade, Remains Hypocrite

Salt, the age-old preservative and all-purpose taste enhancer, is getting the shaft. Your blood pressure, and your belly, will soon have the great city of New York and it’s unprecedented thrice term mayor, Michael Bloomberg to thank for being so trim. New York City announced it’s national campaign to convince restaurants and food manufacturers to reduce the amount of salt they put in their food products.

“The plan, for which the city claims support from health agencies in other cities and states, sets a goal of reducing the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant food by 25 percent over the next five years.

Public health experts say that would reduce the incidence of high blood pressure and should help prevent some of the strokes and heart attacks associated with that condition. The plan is voluntary for food companies and involves no legislation. It allows companies to cut salt gradually over five years so the change is not so noticeable to consumers.”

Hopefully restaurants and food manufacturers won’t just laugh in Bloomberg’s face given his very famous salt (and sweet) tooth despite a “healthy” lifestyle has been the mayor’s major platform since he first took office what seems like decades ago.

The recommended daily allowance for sodium only encompasses the natural salts found in foods. Anything added to that, even from the saltshaker on the table, is more than your body needs. Canned and dehydrated soups have 630-1300mg per cup, soy sauce has 1350 per Tbsp., and a slice of pizza can top out at almost 1500 mg per slice.

The CSPI has been actively working on this campaign as well, fully supporting the New York City’s crusade against sodium chloride and is even so bold as to call salt the most dangerous food ingredient in food supply.