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Filed under: Business, Health, North America, Science, Technology, USA | Tags: Agriculture, Cancer, Chloride, Disease, Doctor, Drugs, Fake News, Fast Food, FDA, Food, Hazard, Health, Heartburn, Humor, Hypertension, Risk, Salt, Satire, Science, Sodium, Technology
Pizza, burgers, and soda are well-known health risks for anyone – young or old. But how many people have actually considered the dangers of the preservative and condiment we all regularly put into our diet? Health experts are talking about salt as recent studies have shown this dietary mineral to contain dangerously high levels of sodium.
Sodium is one of the primary electrolytes in the human body that is needed for it to function properly. Drinking large amounts of water without a separate or combined intake of salt could put a person at risk of water intoxication (hyponatremia). A salt-free diet is also known o cause muscle cramps, dizziness, and sometimes even fatal neurological problems.
Adam Standard of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been one of the few researchers on the FDA board since 1996 who encouraged the limited use of and even the possible ban of salt and foods containing it.
“The drug that makes up what is carelessly referred to as ‘salt’ is actually sodium chloride, or NaCl, a chemical compound of sodium and chloride,” explains Standard. “Used mainly as a seasoning or preservative additive, a regular intake of NaCl comes with much addressed health risks.”
Excess salt consumption has been linked to heartburn, osteoporosis, left ventricular hypertrophy (cardiac enlargement), edema, and gastric diseases such as cancer and ulcers. Most often, hypertension, or increased blood pressure, arises from just a few years of excessive sodium intake. A noted 2005 FDA study headed by Standard concluded that the chances of developing cardiovascular disease increased in young males and females aged 18-29 by 25-30% within a year of daily average salt intakes.
“Worst of all,” fears Standard, “Is that sodium is everywhere. Not just on top of our french fries, but in our drinks. In our soups. On our meats. Saltines are practically crackers made of salt.”
Dr. Wes Hymen, a leading figure in the field of food preservation in the Department of Agriculture and author of the syndicated article “Preserving our Arteries” is part of a team of scientists that discover and improve new and recycled techniques, methods, and products for making foods last longer. Initially a proponent of salt preservation, the dangerous health risks call for an alternative.
“There is really no more need for salt in our diet” claimed Dr. Hymen in the opening paragraph of his article. “The method of food preservation once was salting and pickling, but today’s newest methods of freezing, canning, and air locking products for later consumption have opened new doors. Healthier doors.”
While Hymen and Standard both agree on the regulated intake of sodium within our diets, Hymen also states less than two grams a day is “all right.” Standard, stating all salt can be substituted with “additives such as potassium chloride” or “pepper,” has alone denied the licensing of more than 3,900 food items that included sodium as an ingredient since 1996.
Filed under: Communism, Democracy, Europe, Issues, Opinion, Politics, Science, Technology, Travel & Leisure, World | Tags: America, Capitalism, Cars, Communism, Culture, Democracy, Eastern Europe, Europe, Gypsy, Journal, Leisure, Plane, Roman, Romania, Rumania, socialism, Studies, Travel
First off, I’d like to say happy belated Christmas and New Year on behalf of all the staff of the Butter Stick. I, Walter Craig, have just recently arrived back from my one month holiday “vacation” in Romania, an have an obligation to pass on the knowledge gained of my cultural studies in this formerly Communist nation in eastern Europe.
The Grim Reaper
One thinks of the holidays as cheery, colorful, enjoyable festivities. Not here. Not ever. As Delta Airlines took a hard landing in the Bucharest Airport, only two colors can describe the first wintry vista of Romania’s capital: gray and filthy.
Old Communist bloc buildings – symmetrically conformed concrete flats made of the grimmest colors imaginable, and further coated in a blanket of dust and dirty snow. The entire city was broken into sectors of a giant hammer and sickle maze. In fact, every city and town, besides the poorest and most primordially feudal villages were scattered like this. It’s as if death stalks Eastern Europe.
They have a joke here in Romania. They say that when the end of the world comes, everyone should quickly move to Romania because they are literally fifteen years behind the rest of the world. This being true, I look forward to moving to country at the right time so I can merrily live out fifteen extra years in a complete piece of crap.
Traffic
If there is at least one absolute rule of the road in this crazy nation, it is simply this: be an asshole when behind the wheel of a car. It may not be that everyone is a bad driver, but quite frankly just a bunch of jerks that drive like a herd of angry bulls at the annual bull run in Spain. No laws, no seat belts; just a bunch of 2 Fast 2 Furious (bootlegged version) fans.
In times past, all traffic was categorically the same. The Dacia was the national car of Romania and the onlycar in Romania. As a matter of fact, you have to be a Romanian just to know how to drive the ancient hunk of metal whose safety standards are ranked with negative numbers. Thankfully, the Germans have made their own vehicle investments for some time now. Even though American Fords and Chevys are clearly unmatched in any car category, Audis and Volkswagons are nice as well compared to other European wheels.
It’s a Holiday in Romania
Who knew? Eastern Europe is Eastern Orthodox; some kind of Christianity no one has ever heard of before. They celebrate Jesus and Christmas, so I was fairly happy in my stay. Apparently Bucharest, the capital, had Europe’s largest Christmas tree this year. It was over 21 stories high, which means they probably took an elevator to the top to place the star, and was built by a foreign Spanish company.
When the gypsies weren’t knocking on my door hoping to kidnap me for a hearty American ransom, Christmas wasn’t half bad. Grey snow, black ice, a red Santa wearing a robe, and a piercing cold wind. Better than imagining them as a bunch of atheist commies.
Bootlegger’s Country
There are is no justice where there is no law. Romanians don’t buytheir music, movies, and games. No, everything is either downloaded off the internet freely or distributed among groups illegally. Best of all, there is no one to stop them. At one point I thought, “I wish America was more like this,” but then remembered – “oh yeah, they’re a bunch of lazy communists who like to get everything for free, but in America, we work for wages and help communism run by feeding it with consumer society.”
Travel Tip
Don’t ever go to Romania unless you’re a poor hippie.
