Piracy offshore Somalia has been a major media story for the past couple weeks. What's the salt "angle"? It turns out that a Greek freighter carrying a cargo of salt was among the hijacked vessels, according to a December 4 report in the San Jose, CA Mercury-News .

We often describe bulk salt as "a heavy bulk commodity" and, indeed, that was the undoing of the freighter, the Centauri. The news report explains:

The Centauri sped up and began to swerve, trying to throw off the attackers. The Centauri was moving too slowly, weighed down by its cargo of salt. Within five minutes of the first sighting, two boatloads of pirates armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades had swarmed aboard on makeshift ladders.

The story has a happy ending: ship and crew were released unharmed ten days later.

Stories in the December issue of SI Report include the new History Channel "Salt" program, how the British Food Standards Agency set up a "straw man" to demonstrate population salt reduction when none really occured, a new study showing risks of low-salt diets....and more.

Salt is so basic to our existence we often forget its life-saving role as an essential nutrient; consider oral rehydration therapy which has saved millions of lives, particularly in Africa. But salt is not only essential to life, it plays a key role combatting mental retardation; consider the enormous achievement of iodized salt.

New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof does just that. In today's paper, he reviews the enormous paybacks of salt iodization, "Raising the World's I.Q ."

Salt does have a real downside, Kristof admits -- "it's so numbingly boring, few people pay attention to it or invest in it. (Or dare write about it!)." I guess we here at the Salt Institute are so insensate we didn't realize that salt was boring or unworthy of attention so count us among the few.

Thankfully, Kristof is one of the few as well. With his proselytizing, perhaps the few will become many.

"The most standard of seasonings has gone gourmet," proclaims Condé Nast. The publisher of advisories for the well-heeled and well-traveled has produced a Salt Food Guide to help its upscale readers understand the variety of salts available to them through gourmet stores and, increasingly, in fine restaurants. See the slide show .

Although the study was conducted in an at-risk population being treated for congestive heart failure (CHF) and, therefore, not directly comparable to healthy populations, yet another study has found reduced-sodium diets creating health risks.

A study by an Italian research team led by Salvatore Paterna and Pietro Di Pasquale on "Normal-sodium diet compared with low-sodium diet in compensated congestive heart failure " in the October issue of Clinical Science asks: "Is sodium an old enemy or a new friend?"

Friend, according to the data. Lowering dietary sodium stimulated plasma renin activity (PRA) and aldosterone production.

The normal-sodium group had a significant reduction, P less than 0.05, in readmissions. BNP values were lower in the normal-sodium group compared with the low sodium group (685±255 compared with 425±125 pg/ml respectively; P

When PRA and aldosterone levels are high, multiple studies have shown subjects have significantly higher incidence of heart attacks and cardiovascular mortality.

Thus, the study concluded: "a normal-sodium diet improves outcome, and sodium depletion has detrimental renal and neurohormonal effects with worse clinical outcome in compensated CHF patients."

The first nine months' safety statistics, just released, reflect the increased hours being recorded in U.S. salt mines and, despite the production push, an improvement in both the incidence and severity of worker injuries. Hours worked surged 8.53% while reportable incidence fell 14.88% and the severity rate by 53.99%.

Cargill had the best large-company safety record through September. Among smaller companies, Lyons Salt and Detroit Salt had unblemished records and no small company has had a single lost time injury for the entire year. In all, 23 facilities have perfect records in 2008. By category, they include:

Large processing: Morton Salt's Rittman, OH; Silver Springs, NY; and Manistee, MI evap plants and Cargill Salt's evap plants in St. Clair, MI and Hutchinson, KS.

Mining: Cargill Deicing Technology's Cayuga Mine in Lansing, NY; Lyons Salt in Lyons, KS and Detroit Salt in Detroit, MI.

Small processing: Cargill Salt's facilities in Watkins Glen, NY; Akron, OH; Port Newark, NJ; Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles; Freedom, OK and Tampa, FL; United Salt's Carlsbad, NM saltworks; Canadian Salt's Lindbergh, AB evap plant; Compass Minerals's Chicago operation and Compass/Sifto's Amherst, NS evap plant; and Morton Salt's Elston Dock facility in Chicago and its Glendale, AZ saltworks.

Morton Salt and Canadian Salt had perfect safety records in their terminals and warehouses as well.

Keep up the good work!

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has begun its five-year review of the science behind the government's recommendations for U.S. food consumers -- all of us!

In its latest Salt and Health newsletter, the Salt Institute examines "The Evidentiary Foundation of our Dietary Gudelines " and finds that foundation is built on sand, not rock. The article recounts a 2007 review of the process by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences which confirmed that the scientific review of the diet and disease data was based on the opinions of respected authorities -- the lowest level of evidence -- rather than on controlled trials of dietary interventions. That review drew on a New York Times Magazine story on "Why can't we trust much of what we hear about diet, health and behavior-related diseases?" The Salt Institute endorses an "evidence-based" approach as opposed to the "opinion-based" recommendations produced in the current process.

If you enjoyed the twice-issued, often-replayed History Channel "Modern Marvels" show on "Salt Mines," you'll want to tune in tonight at 8 pm for the one-hour sequel: "Salt " for which Mort Satin and I were both interviewed (No, we haven't screened it yet). With all the "holiday releases" from Hollywood, we hope this means the History Channel considers their newest creation a prime time feature. It will re-air four hours later, at midnight EST and next Saturday, December 6 at 7 pm. A great way to get the holiday spirit.

Columbo, Sri Lanka's Sunday Times has an informative review of the salt industry in that country showing how the privatization and modernization of the industry leads to progress in iodizing salt. The country's salt production is in transition as the photo above depicts, but more modern facilities are coming on line.

Congratulations. This Thanksgiving, let us give thanks for the diligence of our workers and their wonderful record of safe-working achievement. Most recently, these achievements:

Canadian Salt, Pugwash, NS mine, 700,000 hours without a lost-time injury Cargill Salt, Newark, CA processing plant, 700,000 hours Cargill Salt, Lansing, NY mine, 700,000 hours Cargill Salt, Avery Island, LA mine, 400,000 hours Cargill Salt, Dubuque, IA terminal, 23 years Cargill Salt, Bonaire, N.A. solar, 3 years Cargill Salt, Cincinnati, OH terminal, 3 years Cargill Salt, Freedom, OK solar, 2 years Cargill Salt, Lansing, NY mine, 2 years Cargill Salt, Avery Island, LA mine, 1 year

This is the hottest question about salt this Fall, pushing aside questions of whether there is any credible evidence that reducing dietary salt could improve people's health (none yet). This is the topic of the just-released number of the Institute's Salt and Highway Deicing newsletter, now online.

It appears that we finally have something that we can agree upon with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) . According to a recent article prepared by Merrill Goozner of the at CSPI, and repeated by Marion Nestle in her blog , nearly half the new 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee's 13 members have taken funding from the food and pharmaceutical industries. Of common interest is the Chairperson of the Committee, Dr. Linda van Horn, professor of preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. We are not aware of any conflict of interest involving research funding, however, during the first public meeting of the DGAC, Dr. van Horn recalled an experiment that she had done as a graduate student, which she stated proved without doubt that children who were fed reduced salt diets ended up abhorring the typical salt levels in many foods. Thus, she revealed the personal bias she brings with her as she assumes the chair of a committee tasked with the 'objective' evaluation of all the data on salt and health to be used as a base for future recommendations.

It is interesting to note that CSPI, Marion Nestle, and the preponderance of professionals in the medical community choose to define conflict of interest almost exclusively in terms of funding received from outside (particularly industry) sources. What they seem to totally ignore is the overwhelming bias resulting from personal ego, and a lifelong investment in a particular point of view on a subject. Such an all-consuming passion usually results in a conflict of interest greater than any motivated by research funding. Clinical researchers who have promoted a particular theory for decades are very unlikely to change their minds easily. Many brazenly belong to advocacy groups that publicly espouse their positions. How can they be expected to objectively evaluate data that may make decades of their investment worthless? Yet, there they are - fully prejudiced by preconceived positions - and placed in a position of public trust to make objective evaluations.

Thus, we have one of the greatest hypocrisies in modern medicine - biased researchers sanctimoniously pointing their fingers at the 'conflicts of interest' of others.

Physician, heal thyself.

As we pointed out in an earlier article, the chairman of the sub-committee for Fluid and Electrolytes for the 2010 Guidelines is Larry Appel. Dr. Appel is one of the world's most outspoken anti-salt advocates and is listed as a member of World Action on Salt and Health (WASH) , an advocacy group whose singular aim is: "to achieve a reduction in dietary salt intake around the world." In their justification for salt reduction , WASH focuses almost exclusively on hypertension to the virtual exclusion of all other risk factors and biomarkers responsible for overall health outcomes. They systematically ignore all data (including the Cochrane review and its latest reissue - ) as well as the most recent evidence that demonstrates the net negative health outcomes from reduced salt diets. How any member of such an advocacy group could possibly be selected (much less lead) what is supposed to be an objective advisory group is quite astonishing and black mark on the Institute of Medicine as well as our National Academy of Sciences under which it operates. It is not as if the IOM were unaware of this conflict of interest. They simply choose to ignore it, confident in the belief that they can pass anything off as legitimate science.

And why not? When has the medical establishment ever been called out, no matter how egregious their behavior or advice has been? How many people marched on the IOM or the AMA offices to protest the countless deaths resulting from the hormone replacement therapy fiasco. When it comes to medicine, people suffer silently - and the establishment gets a free pass.

Such hypocrisy does not bode well for the future of objective medical science in this country.

Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services launched their first Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans . This was in direct response to the national obesity epidemic whose effects can be seen everywhere. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control have stated that adult obesity rates doubled since 1980, from 15 percent to 30 percent while childhood obesity has almost tripled during the same time period, from 6.5 percent to 16.3 percent.

While it is great that these new guidelines are here, it is fair to ask why it took so long for them to be published. The answer to that is clear. The responsibility for carrying out physical activity is almost entirely in the hands of individuals. If individuals don't make the effort to do physical exercise, then there is no one to blame but themselves. This is, of course, much more related to adults than children. For children, it is both the home and school environment that is largely responsible for the amount of exercise they do.

Because of the great degree of personal responsibility associated with physical exercise, there has been little attention paid to this issue on the part of consumer advocacy groups, whose political capital is largely the result of finding businesses and large institutions to blame for problems. With reference to the obesity epidemic, consumer advocacy groups invariably blame the food industry for producing high fat, empty calorie foods, and, to a lesser extent, they blame the government for not regulating the industry. It is a very rare occurrence when a consumer advocacy group calls on consumers to bear their share of the responsibility for managing their lifestyle and matching their food consumption with energy expenditure through physical activity.

Thus, while the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans has just been published, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is in the process of preparation of its sixth iteration since 1980.

It is strange that it is only since the first iteration of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans that we have experienced the obesity epidemic. This does not say much about the effectiveness of the Dietary Guidelines and the people or institutions that have developed them. Considering what has happened to our physical condition in the last quarter century, one wonders if Americans would have been better off without the Dietary Guidelines. Is it possible that this could have been corrected if the Physical Activity Guidelines were issued at the same time? Not likely.

As much as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) assure us that the Dietary Guidelines are evidence-based, they are about the worst example of this that anyone might choose. The Dietary Guidelines are predominantly based upon opinion - the absolutely lowest level of evidence in the hierarchy of acceptable evidence. In fact, some of the evidence upon which the Guidelines are based is so subjective, there have been complaints that certain of the Guidelines should never have been issued. Unfortunately, there are certain segments of our society that have an burning desire to provide guidance, no matter how ill-advised.

If you consider both the Dietary and Physical Activity Guidelines, you will see that they don't really relate to one another. (It is interesting to note that the Physical Activity Guidelines are issued by the HHS alone, while the Dietary Guidelines are issued jointly by HHS and USDA - are there some issues at play here?) While food products carry labels that indicate the energy content (calories) of each serving, it is almost impossible for consumers to easily translate this into the amount of physical activity required to expend the energy taken. People who watch their weight and exercise regularly are an exception. They have a good idea of what extra energy will have to be burned off in order to make up for extra food consumption. If they treat themselves to a few extra chocolate chip cookies, then they put in the effort to jog for an extra half hour in order to burn the calories off.

Instead of putting calories on the food label, why don't they put the physical activity equivalent on, so that people will have an idea of what they have to do to get rid of that additional intake. That is the sort of thing that will link the Dietary and Physical Activity Guidelines together - calories by themselves simply don't convey the energy input/output message to consumers.

Getting consumers to relate their diet to physical activity and energy expenditure is not rocket science. It does, however, require a sensitivity to the needs and awareness of consumers rather than a focus on political expediency and a compulsion to give advice by a medical establishment that has still to learn what food and nutrition are all about.

What does an economic index begun in 1744 in London have to do with getting road salt to Cedar Rapids, Iowa in November 2008? It would be speculation, to be sure, to connect the dots, but one thing is certain: the veritable Baltic Dry Index (BDI) is not speculative. The BDI captures real shipping costs around the world and reflects not just the cost of moving raw materials like salt, but is a reliable proxy for economic activity.

Lately, of course, it's been plunging. The inventory of cargo ships is pretty inelastic, so when economic activity stagnates and shipping demand follows, the index falls. Lower shipping rates are great for those who still have goods to ship, of course. And that gets us back to road salt.

With all North American mines working at capacity and fearful snowfighting agencies voicing anxious demand for more salt deliveries, salvation can come only through increased salt imports. With lowered shipping costs, those imports should be more affordable this year than in the past when higher shipping rates economically advantaged domestic producers.

Perhaps the lower BDI, as well as the evidence surge in demand for road salt, explains why the lead story of the October 20 issue of River Transport News reported a spike in salt imports into New Orleans and likely record volumes of upriver salt barge shipments.

Still, yesterday, we received three media calls from Michigan alone. Clearly, if help is on the way, it hasn't arrived yet.

New Mexico Salt and Minerals, Carlsbad, NM, has joined the Salt Institute. The company operates a solar saltworks in southeastern New Mexico and sports a new owner, Sergio Saenz . With the company's membership, Mr. Saenz becomes a member of the Salt Institute's governing board, the CEO Council. Welcome.