I'm not sure why they think their luck will be any better this time, but hey, you can't fault em for trying, right? What's the worst that could happen? Trans-salts?
A couple of amusing highlights from a NY Times article on the subject:
The Hard Sell on Salt
Published: May 29, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/health/30salt.html
Wait a minute... Low calorie sweeteners solved a problem? Overnight? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's been how many decades now since they were invented and aren't we fatter than ever before? They did "open a huge market" though, I have to grant him that.Dr. Howard Moskowitz, a food scientist and consultant to major food manufacturers, said companies had not shown the same zeal in reducing salt as they had with sugars and fat. While low-calorie sweeteners opened a huge market of people eager to look better by losing weight, he said, salt is only a health concern, which does not have the same market potential.
“If all of a sudden people would demand lower salt because low salt makes them look younger, this problem would be solved overnight,†he said.
There is a graphic showing the sodium content of a Healty Choice "complete meal," Chicken Monterey. The shocker? This meal, all by itself, provides twenty-five percent of the recommended daily sodium allowance! So you could eat it three meals a day and still have 25% of your sodium RDA left over!!!!
This is shocking?
Shockingly good, maybe. You have RDA to spare -- if you're eating three meals a day.
Of course, most people don't eat this way anymore; they permasnack. And that is the real issue. They snack on sweets, they snack on fat, they snack on empty carbs -- and you bet they snack on salt. Is there an adjective that appears before the word "snacks" more often than "salty?"
So relax. For most of us No-essers this salt stuff is a distraction. If you practice no-s, you get it dealt with as a bonus, without any additional privation or even noticing it. I'm not by any means encouraging anyone to eat crap like the above three meals a day (that would be a gastronomical crime, if nothing else) but it's nice to know that from a sodium standpoint at least you could.
Reinhard