Put the salt shaker down and step slowly away from the table. You don’t realize what you are doing to yourself. The FDA, however, does. They know. They care. The FDA…pregnant pause…well…they love you.

Remember that when the FDA salt regulation makes your food bland. They are doing this for your own good…stupid.

The FDA, or you can call them “Mommy”, will be forcing working with the food industry to lower salt slowly, like how you want band-aids removed. It’s all in an effort to get those naughty Americans to stop making decisions for themselves and start doing what Mommy says by sheer force.

Your sweat tea is next.

Americans are reportedly consuming twice what the government recommends. And government doesn’t like it. The FDA says the move is to help prevent deaths from hypertension and heart disease.

However, an extensive study in 2008 by the Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University found a higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease in people consuming lower sodium diets, not higher.

Really.

The researchers analyzed data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), which was conducted by the federal government among a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. These data were then compared against death records that had been collected by the government through the year 2000. The sample of approximately 8,700 represented American adults who were over 30 years of age at the time of the baseline survey (1988-1994) and were not on a special low-salt diet.

After factoring in risk factors like smoking, diabetes and blood pressure, the sample of individuals with the lowest sodium diet were 80% more likely to die from cardiovascular disease. In fact, no- and low-salt consumers were 24% more likely to die from any cause.

In other words, salt might save your life. But in the meantime, the FDA might inadvertently kill you.

Salt is necessary for life. It is found in every human fluid, like our blood and sweat and tears. It’s necessary for the transmission of nerve impulses, hydration, pH levels, absorption of minerals, digestion, insulin balance, to fight infections, to clean wounds, essential for the aging and the pregnant, necessary to fight off iodine deficiency, etc, etc. It’s also very tasty.

“All of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea — whether it is to sail or to watch it — we are going back from whence we came.” John F. Kennedy, Speech given at Newport at the dinner before the America’s Cup Races, September 1962

Each person has their own individual requirement of necessary salt intake, a number that cannot be mass dictated by something like…oh…the federal government if people are to maintain personal health.

The body regulates the amount of salt we consume based on our individual needs. Salt intake levels are determined in the brain. Our cerebral cortex senses each person’s needs and creates an appetite that is more powerful than an individual’s conscious choice.

Thirst, for instance, is a signal that our bodies need water to help balance the salt we have consumed. A craving for salt reflects a healthy need. When healthy, our bodies are able to use the amount of salt they need, and expel any excess by processing through the kidneys.

The FDA doesn’t agree with this or with JFK. Pity.

For now, there has been no set amount of salt limit. They don’t know that yet. Instead, the FDA is going to spend an undeclared amount of taxpayer money, in what sounds an awful lot like a free smorgasbord, testing “spaghetti sauces, breads and thousands of other products”. Then the regulations will be handed down from on high.

In the meantime, the FDA salt regulations will have to determine whether or not to exempt salty foods like pickles or whether to staff grocery stores and smack consumers’ hands when they reach for a jar of Vlasic.