TS Magazine January 5, 2001
The following was taken "as is" from the CNN website. The TV presentation is wrong in BOTH the facts and details. A discussion of the facts are included at the end of this article. This "Silly Salt Story" receives the TEDDY SPEAKS STUPID SCIENCE AWARD for January 2001.
Morning News
Study Finds Lower Salt in Diet Can Lessen Blood Pressure
Aired January 4, 2001 - 10:34 a.m. ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if taking blood pressure pill is part of your daily routine, you may be able to ditch those pills this new year, but you'll also have to put some salts out of your diet. There's a new study finding that reducing your salt in your diet can substantially lower your blood pressure.
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with more. And you've already surprised me in looking at where there is salt in food, hidden salt -- we're not even talking about the salt shaker yet. We'll get to that in a second.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, we'll get to that in a minute. It's so surprising where salt is. You would just never know. In this study, what they found was that if you just lower your salt, you can lower your blood pressure dramatically. You wouldn't need to take drugs. However, according to the levels that they used in the study, this one sandwich -- this one breakfast sandwich right here, which is eggs and bacon and cheese -- that would be your daily limit of sodium.
KAGAN: That used to be a Bill Hemmer favorite.
COHEN: Oh, really, OK.
KAGAN: He cleaned up his act.
COHEN: How's his blood pressure?
KAGAN: Yes, he's doing better -- I mean I wouldn't tell tales out of school if I wouldn't be able to say he's doing much.
COHEN: So this is it, this would be all of it, because in the study what they found is you got a great advantage from eating 1,500 milligrams a day of sodium. This is 1,550, so that's it.
This right here is 630, so that's about half of it.
KAGAN: Pancakes.
COHEN: I know, you -- salt is a flavor enhancer, and people who make food know that, and so they... KAGAN: They put it in there.
COHEN: ... they put it in there.
KAGAN: OK, now when you really think of salty food, you think of potato chips.
COHEN: Exactly, you know that this is salty, you know when you taste it that it's salty.
KAGAN: And tasty, too.
COHEN: And tasty, and it's even yummy and fatty, and you know that. However, there is as nearly as much salt in this piece of bread as there is in these potato chips. The potato chips have 250 milligrams; this one piece of bread has 220.
KAGAN: And then you were saying the Pop-Tarts?
COHEN: And the Pop-Tarts have 340 in two Pop-Tarts, which is considered one serving.
KAGAN: So there's more salt in the Pop-Tarts than there is in that bag of chips?
COHEN: Exactly, you're getting significantly more than two Pop- Tarts.
KAGAN: How are you supposed to know, and what are you supposed to do?
COHEN: Well, how you know is you read labels, first of all, and even things like some fast food restaurants will make their nutritional content known, so you can ask at the restaurant. The other answer is you just don't eat as much processed foods, and that will help you -- not always easy to do.
KAGAN: And then, if you are making your own food -- and you're saying it's better to add, actually use the salt shaker.
COHEN: I was so surprised when the author of the study, who's a pretty big anti-salt guy, said, you know what, you're better off adding at the table because one, you can control it, and two, you get a big salt punch when you add it and then eat it right there. When you cook with salt, a lot of that salt disappears, a lot of that salt favor gets cooked away. But if you just shake it right there, you're getting a bigger salt punch, and you can control it.
KAGAN: And so good important, but most important, before you go, throwing out any blood pressure pills or anything, check with your doctor.
COHEN: Oh, of course, absolutely.
KAGAN: Absolutely, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much. And Leon, hope you learned something there -- over to you.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I sure did, and I can't eat a thing today -- that's what I learned.
