More from the salt article and some ranting:
<<<<<<<
High blood pressure is associated with a higher risk of stroke and heart attack. About 80
percent of the Western world's population has higher blood pressure than it should,
MacGregor said.
But Alderman said focusing on blood pressure misses the point.
''That's not good enough. You've got to look at the end point study,'' Alderman said.
''There's no evidence that a low-sodium diet makes you live longer.''
Besides lowering blood pressure, cutting salt also raises blood renin, a hormone that
constricts blood vessels and raises risk of heart attack, Alderman said. Low-salt diets
also increase insulin resistance and nerve activity, he said.
>>>>>>>>
What bothers me is how they can conclude that 80% of us have too high of a blood pressure. Of course the other 20% must be "normal". Seems like a pretty narrow definition of normal!
Same kind of dogma is used in cholesterol. Of course after a while they found out that there is good and bad cholesterol. But of course the vast majority of us do not have normal cholesterol levels.
All of this seems like marketing to me, a great way to sell pharmaceuticals and run up doctor bills.
Now the feds want to dilute the strict California Organic Food regs and allow a bunch of crap into the system. Nothing like systematic poisoning through the food supply. Of course DDT was a miracle chemical. I've got a great early '50s gardening book that recommends putting DDT on just about everything, including your pets and their bedding....just spread the stuff everywhere.
So, what is the current chemical bad guy in the environment? Why MTBE, the wonderous suspected carcinogen gasoline additive that's supposed to reduce air pollution. Well, now it is showing up in the water supplies because it isn't completely combusted by engines, doesn't readily breakdown, transports rapidly through the ground and screwed up countless engines to boot. I don't think it is too wise to spoil the water to save the air. There is also a lot of anecdotal evidence that MTBE is increasing the incidence of asthma in areas where it is in fuel. Of course this compound has not been extensively studied, but what the hell the companies that makes it thinks it is great stuff. Even the oil refiners don't want to use it, but the gov't requires it. Of course in another decade or so maybe they will have enough studies done to know. Of course cigarettes never used to cause cancer or be addictive, until recently of course. The system is definitely broken!
RantMan |
