Does it taste nice? That means it probably causes cancer.
I jest but it does seem like everything nice either causes heart disease and/or cancer.
Scientists can’t agree whether salt is killing us
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Re: Scientists can’t agree whether salt is killing us
#22Salt and other nutrients are bad if you're sedentary...
Re: Scientists can’t agree whether salt is killing us
#23I think it's better to enjoy life than worry about nutritional guidelines, which might extend our time in some retirement home. Especially something that's been in our diet for a long time. Just don't overdo it.
Looking after your health can be an important component of being able to enjoy life well before the retirement home. Plenty of people are having heart attacks and strokes before age 60, before age 50.
Re: Scientists can’t agree whether salt is killing us
#24The problem is that salt (and other minerals) is required to live. But we eat too much of everything (including salt).
It's not the salt that's killing us, it's the shitty diet, too-large portions, and lack of exercise. If we ate reasonable portions of well-prepared meals the salt wouldn't be a big deal. But no, instead we eat extra large portions of everything, way too much meat, starch, fat and salt, so all these food items get a bad rap because we can't simply moderate ourselves...
Re: Scientists can’t agree whether salt is killing us
#25The article kindly submitted here is interesting. Like more and more recent articles about science in the popular press, this article, which reports on a large analysis of previously published papers on salt in the human diet, digs into the process of science to look at how (or even whether) scientists learn from one another by citing the previously published papers on the same topic. The article's key point, just below a graphic that is criticized in several previous comments here, is "Overall the papers they reviewed were 50 percent more likely to cite reports that drew a similar conclusion than to cite papers drawing a different conclusion." In other words, scientists working on the issue of how much salt in the human diet is too much are largely talking past one another, and not collaboratively seeking truth. The article further reports, "Trinquart and his colleagues also turned up another factor that might pose even more profound problems in the salt research. It appears scientists could not even agree on what ought to be counted as evidence."
Human nutrition studies are notoriously difficult because it is very hard to measure exactly what a study subject eats, especially a nutrient like salt that occurs as a hidden ingredient in wildly varying doses in many foods. So correct measurement of the initial study data is hard to get right in studies about salt. But if scientists are still not in consensus about what to look at as endpoints to tell if salt is helpful or harmful in different doses, it will be a long time before we can individualize the research or do anything else suggested in the comments already posted in this thread.
Re: Scientists can’t agree whether salt is killing us
#26I think it's better to enjoy life than worry about nutritional guidelines, which might extend our time in some retirement home. Especially something that's been in our diet for a long time. Just don't overdo it.
My in-laws, who have always regularly exercised and eat healthy are 10 years older but have a much higher quality of life than my parents who have done neither.
It's about staying out of the retirement home for as long as possible not how long you're there before you die.
Re: Scientists can’t agree whether salt is killing us
#27"the image is dominated by red and blue, a sign that scientists are more likely to cite the research that conforms to their outlook." Or a sign that the green lines were drawn first, and test red and blue overlaid.
This could have been improved by clustering using a d3-like force layout - The current node layout obfuscates the graph terribly!
Re: Scientists can’t agree whether salt is killing us
#28Does it taste nice? That means it probably causes cancer. I jest but it does seem like everything nice either causes heart disease and/or cancer.
Even vitamins cause cancer[1]. My personal guess is that it is far more harmful to you to worry too much about what you eat, than eating a little bit too much of something "bad", see Nocebo-effect[2] and other psychosomatic factors.
[1] https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/vitamins-and-cancer-ris... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo
Re: Scientists can’t agree whether salt is killing us
#29WaPo titles are sounding more like Buzzfeed or Quartz.
Re: Scientists can’t agree whether salt is killing us
#30I'm waiting for the day that nutricionists find out that there are different kinds of people with different nutritional needs. Imposing rules on the population on a weak scientific basis harms the people, science and the government in the process. Currently the best way to consume food is to avoid addictive and highly processed food products and then trust your gut with the rest. Eat what you like and avoid what caus…
I tried to inform myself about nutrition but at this point I have still no idea what is best. Right now I'm following your advice, avoid highly processed food and otherwise listen to my body.
Same here. I recently cut sugar and bread products and I experienced random dizziness. I was eating plenty of fruit and I was eating natural sugars. I decided to experiment one day; had 4 donuts, bread and butter, and my body felt better.
Now the plan is to avoid processed, avoid preservatives, and move towards more natural and organic. I went to the doctor and they said don't wait more than 3-4 hours between meals.