In response to a direct question today at a food industry conference in Chicago, Dr. Lawrence Appel who chaired the "objective" Institute of Medicine sodium review and then chaired the 2005 Dietary Guidelines sodium guideline panel, denied he is a member of the anti-salt lobby group, World Action on Salt and Health. Apparently WASH hasn't received his letter of resignation since its website still lists him as member #268 .
Fellow WASH partisan, Michael Jacobson (#189) told the group "we've tried voluntary action (to curtail salt intakes) and it doesn't work." Contrasting the US and UK, he declared that the UK government "is interested in public health" (ergo the US government isn't) and, finally, he allowed that salt reduction is easy, and the UK has made dramatic strides with miniscule resources -- only two full time bureaucrats, he stated.
Other speakers added a modicum of balance. Dr. Connie Diekman of Washington University in St. Louis and immediate past president of the American Dietetic Association explained her group's devotion to an evidence-based approach and refused to pre-judge its ongoing review. Grocery Manufacturers Association Senior Nutrition Policy Director Bob Earl again endorsed the Salt Institute's call for a controlled trial of the health outcomes of salt-reduced diets. He noted that the suggested weekly menu to implement USDA's My Pyramid diet guideline provides 2,900 mg/day sodium. Alana Moshfegh, senior researcher at USDA, characterized her presentation as a "reality show" amongst the anti-salt presenters and said salt usage has grown only 3% since 1980 (even that's an overstatement ; as she spoke, her colleagues in Beltsville, MD were releasing data showing no increase at all).
For our non-US readers, the headline references the latest dust-up in the US presidential race where presumptive Democratic nominee, Chicagoan Barack Obama, announced those who interpreted his post-primary statements as changed positions "haven't apparently been listening to me" and GOP nominee-presumptive John McCain joined the argument.
