Choose a few minutes when you want a pick-me-up -- and bookmark the URL for future reference; you'll want to read a new Junk Food Science blog post "Traffic tickets for salt -- does healthy eating mean low salt? "

In a word, "no." But here is author Sandy Szwarc's lead to give you the flavor:

Salt makes food taste good. Therefore, it must be bad for us. Enjoying food means people might eat too much and get fat.

Believe it or not, that is the logic behind beliefs that everyone - from children to adults - should reduce their salt intake as an important part of 'healthy' eating.

Fears of salt have become so widespread, even little kids are being told it's bad for them and given low-salt diets.

She quickly moves to explain why this matters:

But salt is another food ingredient where the science and the voices of medical experts have had a hard time breaking through myths, fears and pop ideologies.

What may seem inconceivable, given the Red Lights being given to salt, is that there is no credible evidence low-salt diets can help prevent heart disease, high blood pressure or premature death. Nor is there any sound evidence to support fears that we're eating too much salt and that high salt diets increase our risks for cardiovascular disease and deaths. Nor can we assume that putting everyone on low-salt diets "can't hurt" and are benign. In fact, the medical research suggests the very opposite.

She continues at length (more than 2,250 words) to explain the NHANES research results from the Albert Einstein Medical College as well as the just-reissued Cochrane Review on "Advice to reduce dietary sodium for prevention of cardiovascular disease." The advice, of course, is: don't bother; there's no evidence of a a heath benefit.

Significantly, Szwarc recounts the multiple risks for those who follow political convention and curtail their salt. Our short post cannot do it justice. You need to read it yourself.

She concludes with this warning:

There are a lot of urban legends about salt, from "salt kills" to "cutting salt can add years to your life." The scariest thing isn't salt, though. It's that scare-based legends and myths, rather than good science, are guiding public health policies, the "nutrition" education being given children, and the public health messages teaching everyone to fear salt. Agendas that are not about health.

We can see why the blog was a finalist for the best new medical blog. Happy reading.

Scotland's youth just received their health "report card " from the World Health Organization. The report was prepared by a Scottish doctor for WHO-Europe and represents rosy health results for Scottish youngsters (among others).

It presents the key findings on patterns of health among young people aged 11, 13 and 15 years in 41 countries and regions across the WHO European Region and North America in 2005/2006. Its theme is health inequalities: quantifying the gender, age, geographic and socioeconomic dimensions of health differentials. Its aim is to highlight where these inequalities exist, to inform and influence policy and practice and to help improve health for all young people.

The report clearly shows that, while the health and well-being of many young people give cause for celebration, sizeable minorities are experiencing real and worrying problems related to overweight and obesity, self-esteem, life satisfaction, substance misuse and bullying. The report provides reliable data that health systems in Member States can use to support and encourage sectors such as education, social inclusion and housing, to achieve their primary goals and, in so doing, benefit young people's health. Policy-makers and professionals in the participating countries should listen closely to the voices of their young people and ensure that these drive their efforts to put in place the circumstances - social, economic, health and educational - within which young people can thrive and prosper.

Yet, within a week, a local paper reported that the government's crusade to re-make Scots' diets will be accelerated. If the kids' "report card" was okay, clearly their parents need some shaping up. Among the new initiatives:

Ministers also want to change the way cooking is taught in the nation's catering colleges by getting young chefs to rely less on salt, sugar, butter and cream, and more on healthy alternatives.

Among the interventions planned is having every worker log in daily using government software to report to the government on his or her personal diet and health situation. The Confederation of British Industry objected.

Iain McMillan, the director of CBI Scotland, said: "I think we will want to look at the detail and we are in favour of promoting health. But it seems that some people are drinking far too much and some are eating far too much and it's everyone else's fault but their own. We need to have far greater regard for the fact that people are responsible for their own welfare. And this seems to be a very heavy-handed approach."

Regular readers will recall the earlier attempt in Glasgow to "lock down" schools at lunch time because students were going off-campus to avoid the "healthy" fare in their cafeterias -- and monitors were to check students' brown bag lunches for nutritional adequacy.

And this from the nation that gave the world the Magna Carta.

Our thanks to Junk Food Science for surfacing the issue.