The website of WASH (World Action on Salt and Health) states that a double-blind study of modest salt restriction caused a reduction in the severity of asthma attacks and a reduction in the use of medication and an improvement in the measurement of airways resistance. The article concludes with a statement:
"It seems therefore that, while salt is not a direct cause of asthma, a high salt intake can act as a major aggravating factor."
The CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health) website similarly states:
Going a step further, another CASH document confidently wrote with great anticipation of the upcoming University of Nottingham study which would once and for all establish the relationship between salt and asthma.
On page 15 of the CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) book, Salt-The Forgotten Killer it states that:
"High-salt diets impair lung function and worsen asthma symptoms"
The NHLBI (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) paper on salt and health, A Critical Review of Current Scientific Evidence indicates in their opening section on sodium intake and non-CVD conditions that:
"Several studies have shown direct associations between sodium intake and other conditions, including ....indicators of asthma."
All four websites claim to be portraying good science, responsible science, all in the public's interest, yet, all four made the relationship between salt and asthma as if there were a solid scientific relationship between the two. Grasping at whatever straws they could to forward their own parochial agendas, they misinformed the public in this matter of health. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for them to retract their statements on the relationship between salt and asthma. It will also be interesting to see if they apologize to their readership for misinforming them.
Today, June 16, 2008, reports started coming in from, among others, CBS , the CBC and The Press Association of the long-anticipated definitive University of Nottingham study to examine the relationship between salt intakes and asthma. The University of Nottingham press release was emblazoned with the title, "Low-sodium advice for asthmatics should be taken with a pinch of salt. " The conclusion of their story stated that the new study by researchers at The University of Nottingham found no evidence that cutting back on salt helps patients with their asthma symptoms.
Once more, we see clear incontrovertible evidence of a patently obvious anti-salt movement that is only too willing to spread myth-information and pseudo-science about an issue, long before the actual science has been definitively established.
As I mentioned above, we will be revisiting the websites of these "scientists" in future to see how quickly they correct their misinformation and apologize for it. This may well show "the measure of the man."
Picking up where Scotland left off , KIng David School in Childwall, Liverpool, UK is considering banning home-packed school lunches.
Junkfood Science blew the whistle on that one, opining: "Imagine being able to make a law eliminating competing products and convince people it's for the children."
Apparently the British mania for food faddism continues. The LIverpool Echo quotes the chairwoman of governors at the school explaining the need to prevent students from consuming low-quality lunches packed by their mothers, explaining "We are amazed at what we find in children's lunch boxes. Some even come in with doughnuts." Can you IMAGINE? Doughnuts in a school lunch? The chair of a local charity, the Child Growth Foundation, joined the chorus: "If parents send in rubbish in lunch boxes, then the school has got to ban them." The "charity" is funded by the UK government.
