BrianGarst.com

The nannies have set their sights on another target: salt.

The Food and Drug Administration is planning an unprecedented effort to gradually reduce the salt consumed each day by Americans, saying that less sodium in everything from soup to nuts would prevent thousands of deaths from hypertension and heart disease. The initiative, to be launched this year, would eventually lead to the first legal limits on the amount of salt allowed in food products.

…Officials have not determined the salt limits. In a complicated undertaking, the FDA would analyze the salt in spaghetti sauces, breads and thousands of other products that make up the $600 billion food and beverage market, sources said. Working with food manufacturers, the government would set limits for salt in these categories, designed to gradually ratchet down sodium consumption. The changes would be calibrated so that consumers barely notice the modification.

The legal limits would be open to public comment, but administration officials do not think they need additional authority from Congress.

Not only has the conventional wisdom on salt flip-flopped repeatedly over the decades, but even the most recent research is entirely ambiguous.

It’s also disturbing that the FDA thinks they can do this without additional Congressional authority.  It’s even more disturbing in that they may be right according to modern Constitutional understanding.

Remember, Obamacare has only given them more excuse to regulate your choices regarding anything that might plausibly be said to affect your health.

FDA