The agency wants to lower how much salt we consume over the next three years to an average of 2,750 milligrams per day. That's still above the recommended limit of 2,300 mg.

The agency wants to lower how much salt we consume over the next three years to an average of 2,750 milligrams per day. That’s still above the recommended limit of 2,300 mg.

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday laid out fresh goals to cut sodium levels in packaged and processed foods  by about 20%, after its prior efforts to address a growing epidemic of diet-related chronic diseases showed early signs of success.

The FDA in October 2021 had set guidelines to trim sodium levels in foods ranging from potato chips to hamburgers in a bid to prevent excessive intake of salt that can trigger high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

The agency is now seeking voluntary curbs from packaged-food makers such as PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz and Campbell Soup. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

  • frezik@midwest.social
    42·
    3 months ago

    No arguing about it. You need sugar to live. You should be getting it alongside other nutrients in regular food.

    You don’t need soda to live. Empty calories are what’s bad.

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
      4·
      3 months ago

      You need some carbohydrates.

      In no universe do you need refined sugar. You absolutely don’t need hundreds of grams of carbohydrates a day. Your body needs less than 100 grams a day and that’s being generous.

      You can literally get all the carbohydrates your body needs from green vegetables or a single piece of fruit.

      • frezik@midwest.social
        32·
        3 months ago

        In other words, you should be getting it alongside other nutrients in regular food.

        from green vegetables or a single piece of fruit.

        Which is fructose. Do you know what “refined sugar” (HFCS) is?

        • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
          3·
          3 months ago

          Well, about fructose…

          In nature, fructose is usually found in about equal parts with glucose, but high-fructose corn syrup (at least the stuff used in beverages, maybe more) has more fructose than glucose.

          Weird quirk about our digestion, fructose is absorbed 1:1 with glucose, so if there’s less glucose than fructose, some fructose gets left behind as excess free fructose, and that fructose can go and play with other parts of the body. It’s been found to cause childhood asthma, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and allergic sensitization.

          Not all sugars are the same.