On Monday 31 January 2011 14:39:42 John M. Steele wrote: > An AP reporter writes a whole article about salt intake and new guidelines > for older adults and those in high risk groups. > http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110131/ap_on_he_me/us_dietary_guidelines_salt > She includes the metric recommendation for younger adults (2300 mg sodium), > but the recommendation for older adults is given as a vague half a teaspoon > (of salt). Googling reveals the guideline from USDA and HHS is 1500 mg. > If only Americans were allowed to know that. > I added this comment to the article: > I know the AP Style book hates metric and recommends removing it, but the > metric guideline for sodium intake REALLY is part of the story. Is it > really too hard to include? A little investigative Googling shows it is > 1500 mg for adults over 50 and other high risk groups, not the vague "half > a teaspoon." I expect reporters to do the investigative work, not readers. > Most salt intake is from packaged food and can only be read from the > nutrition statements where it is given in milligrams, not measured in > teaspoons.
The figure should be given both in milligrams of sodium and in milligrams of salt. 23 happens to be the atomic weight of sodium, so since that of chlorine is 35.5, that is equivalent to 5850 mg salt. But the amount of salt one needs depends on the weather. I eat about 7 g salt per day in summer, and down to 4 g/d in winter, not counting what's in kraut (I use 6 g per 100 g of cabbage plus water). It's also important to state the kind of salt. Refined salt should be avoided. I use Celtic Sea Salt for making sauerkraut and Realsalt or Himalayan salt in cooking. Pierre -- I believe in Yellow when I'm in Sweden and in Black when I'm in Wales.
