A．they disagree with the FDAB．salt doesn’t stick to pot……
TEXT F
Fortunately there are
still a few tasty things for us gourmands to enjoy in relative security. Their
numbers, however, are depleted almost daily, it seems, by ruthless proclamations
from the ever-vigilant Food and Drug Administration and its allies, our doctors.
The latest felon to face prosecution is the salt of life, sodium
chloride.
Ostensible, overuse of salt causes high blood pressure
and hypertension, the cause of half the deaths in the United States every year.
A few years ago the anti-salt campaigners raised such a rumpus that salt was
banned from baby food. Currently pressure is being ap- plied to food
manufacturers to oblige them to label their products to show sodium content.
Because doing so would cost mercenary manufacturers money, they argue that they
have no idea how much salt remains on such things as potato chips and how much
sticks to the bag. Furthermore, salt isn’t the only harmful ingredient in food.
If the manufacturer has to pro- vide sodium content, why not require him to list
every ingredient and specify which are detrimental to our health Cigarettes
have a warning printed on them. Shouldn’t the same type of warning appear on
canned foods that are notoriously oversalted
There are endless
ifs and buts in the controversy, but the most telling of these is the
questionable proof of salt’s diabolic effect upon the blood pressure. True,
people who cut their salt intake lowered their blood pressure but where is the
scientific proof that something other than salt didn’t to the trick The most
common means of providing dubious proof that salt causes hypertension is to
compare societies that use little salt with those that use mountains of salt in
their daily diets. Which group has the higher rate of hypertension Whose blood
pressure is lower What happens when salt is introduced into a group where salt
is a novelty Does the blood pressure rise significantly Studies of the
Japanese indicate that as the world’s greatest salter, they suffer the most from
hypertension. On the other hand, the simple, salt-free cuisine of several tribes
in the Solomon Islands has kept older tribesmen and women from developing
hypertension and high blood pressure, ailments traditionally killing their peers
in America. No account is taken of the effects of inflation, recession,
pollution, crime, and sundry other ills to which Americans, unlike people on
primitive islands, are exposed.
To salt or not to salt That is
the question. Now that the question had arisen, it must not be treated with
levity but, rather, with searching scientific investigation so that those of us
who are preoccupied with both savory food and longevity may decide which of the
two is worth its salt.
Food manufacturers don’t want to label packages with sodium content because______.
A．they disagree with the FDA
B．salt doesn’t stick to potato chips
C．they would have to spend more money
D．it isn’t important to single out salt
