News sources are reporting that the FDA is considering imposing limits on the amount of salt in packaged foods. While the amount of packaged foods that go into my body is minimal, it's a short step from this to imposing sodium limits on restaurants. And my god, is bacon considered a packaged food?

That article recommends weaning yourself off of salt, but that's a rather poor recommendation. It's true that if you stop using salt and cut back completely on salty foods, it will only take two weeks or so before you get used to it and find the amounts of salt you used to use to be way too salty. But what that recommendation doesn't reflect is the role of salt in how we taste. According to researcher Herve This, salt actually masks the flavors that we perceive as bad that are present in the foods we eat, especially the bitter ones, and it enhances the flavors we perceive as good. So a low-salt diet might, after a short while, taste plenty salty, but it won't be nearly as delicious.

Second, based on the research I've done, it seems that eating lots of salt actually doesn't have any harmful effects on a healthy person. Yes, it can be dangerous for someone with heart or blood pressure problems, but most of us don't need to worry about those things for some time. Can anyone confirm or deny?

Posted by Barzelay on 2007/12/02 @ 3:04 | Food Politics and Culture