New dietary guidelines reduce salt WASHINGTON – The Department
of Agriculture, as it does every five years, issued new
guidelines for improving the nation’s diet on Tuesday, but the
main recommendations were steps that Americans have so far
largely avoided adopting – cutting back on salt, sugar and
saturated fats, and consuming more fruits and vegetables.
Indeed, the preliminary version of the latest Dietary Guidelines
for Americans, released Tuesday, are not much different from
those issued 30 years ago. Candidly acknowledging the lack of
progress, the USDA Guidelines Advisory Committee said the new
dietary recommendations are aimed at “an American public of whom
the majority are overweight or obese and yet undernourished in
several key nutrients.” Both the increasing severity of the
problem and its cost are reflected in the new recommendations on
salt. Americans currently consume an average of 3,400 milligrams
of salt daily, and excessive intake has been implicated in heart
disease, strokes and other maladi