Morons

A salt free diet is a death sentence.

Large new study using UK Biobank data shows even a small reduction in salt intake can be beneficial

Ah, so not ‘salt free’ FFS, try to get it right. These idiots are supposed to be journalists. I was asked to take part in the biobank thing about fifteen years ago. I told them to fuck off as did the late Mrs L.

Lead author Dr Yoon Jung Park, of Kyungpook national university hospital, South Korea, said: “Our study indicates that lower frequency of adding salt to foods was associated with lower risk of AF.”

Sigh… Repeat after me – correlation does not equal causation. What they have here is a possible indicator that would need further research, so the headline is highly misleading. What a surprise.

Mhairi Brown, of Consensus Action on Salt, Sugar and Health said: “This new research is a valuable addition to the evidence base and reinforces the need for strict policies that would help lower the amount of salt in our food and protect our health from avoidable deaths.”

Ah, yes, as to be expected. My findings are that a study can lead to a 100% increase in control freakery.

9 Comments

  1. I still remember the goitre photos in a medical book from my childhood, that’s what nightmares are made of. I promised myself to always add plenty of iodised salt to my food.

  2. The problem with this type of study is the confounding factors. Did people who consumed more salt and had a higher risk of AF have that higher risk because they were eating more chips and crisps (i.e. fried foods) than others? Correlation is not necessarily causation.

  3. I remember something from a few years ago that said Volvo cars were safer but stats didn’t support it. Seems that Volvo drivers felt safer and therefore drove faster and so were involved in the same amount of accidents as everyone else.

    On the plus side they didn’t drive down a 30mph road at 20 like many of todays drivers do.

    Stats can lead you anywhere.

  4. They got his Korean name the wrong way round.
    The AF also, with maybe a “sweet” before. Aaaargh, the dreaded sugar.

  5. The small minded single issue obsessives would love there to be a one size fits all salt intake that they could claim was a guarantee of perfect health. Real life doesn’t conform to their simplistic worldview though. Some people work in foundries. Some people enjoy spin classes. Other people never break a sweat. Unfortunately these morons get government funding and get to influence government policies that affect the rest of us.

  6. The “Consensus Action on Salt, Sugar and Health” name says it all.

    Consensus? No one asked me for my opinion. If they are in a chattering echo chamber, listening to the sound of their own farts, then, yes, that is consensus among the Consensus Action on Salt, Sugar and Health proponents but not the rest of the population.

    Speaking of which, is red wine good or bad for you this week? I sort of lost track of the benefits and/or harm that drinking it confers. It makes it hard to respond to this weeks panic at times …

  7. Without the right balance of sodium and potassium ions in the body nerve conduction is impaired. In other words just foxtrot oscar and allow body homeostasis to balance the salts required for optimal nerve conduction. Excess salt is excreted. These bloody pressure groups are indeed staffed by morons with usually no scientific training!

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