Nutrition and media magniloquence…..
I am a fan of Sky News and I always enjoy the dry wit of Eamonn Holmes in the morning and of course the lovely Lucy Verasamy telling me how it will be grey, windy, and almost certainly wet outside. Again. However, this morning my quest for a gear to grind was met wonderfully by one of their lead stories. Media reporting can often be misleading, but today’s headline of ‘High street salads saltier than a Big Mac’ really went over the top and so here to bring some balance back into things is my latest rant on the media and how they twist stories to add sensation. The way this article was reported was a classic piece of selection bias, where the media delight in extracting some kind of morbid pleasure by trying to influence our thoughts through bombastic headlines that are often a wild extension on the reality. This is not only deceptive and misleading, but also insults our intelligence to examine the full facts and make our own judgement.
However, it only takes a few minutes examining the piece on the Sky News and Action on Salt website to see that their findings are in fact a very long leap from the ‘salads being no healthier than a big mac’ message that was being sent out today.
Let’s take a little look at some of the other facts here. This research was carried out by a body called the Consensus Action on Salt and Health, it is not from a peer-reviewed recent journal article or academic review. Now, I would hasten to add that they seem like a very well meaning collective of academic minds who believe in reducing salt as a prime preventative health measure and good on them for that. However, it should then come as no surprise that their survey would serve to reinforce their own viewpoint.
So, keen to dig a little deeper I decided to check out the Cochrane Review’s stance on this (the Cochrane collaboration are an independent and objective review board, there to help us disseminate the truth from the claims by thoroughly investigating the quality and validity of the available evidence). Interestingly despite what you might think, the actual effects of salt reduction in the Caucasian population are really quite underwhelming. So much so that two separate Cochrane review (Jurgens 2003 and Hooper 2009) concluded that “the magnitude of the effect in Caucasians with normal blood pressure does not warrant a general recommendation to reduce sodium intake” and that “reduction (in blood pressure) was not enough to expect an important health benefit”. Reading the findings would suggest that while some hypertensive people (blacks and asians may well benefit though there is not enough research to really be sure) may be advised to reduce salt for short-term benefits, the actual level of effect is really quite small (in some cases significant reductions of 3g a day led to only a drop of around 1 mm Hg in systolic BP). Interesting I am sure you will agree and yet strangely absent from this mornings report.
Of course, the reality is that attributing all the ills of society to one single dietary addition is in fact extremely challenging. High salt diets typically involve eating highly processed foods, which often tend to be low in key nutrients and high in added sugar. It is no coincidence that many high salt and sugar products are those billed to the consumer as being ‘low-fat’ and therefore ‘healthier options’, however this is another story altogether.
Reassuringly, once you read the survey there is in fact an astonishing amount of salads surveyed that DO contain less than 2g of salt per portion. Just to save you the hassle of checking I have attached a link to the page below where you can go get the Word document for yourself.
http://www.actiononsalt.org.uk/professionals/professionals_salads_and_pasta_bowls.htm
So, the truth of this morning’s report really should of read something like this:
“Nine out of ten salads surveyed have less than 2g of salt, which is less than you will find in a Big Mac and fries, while a third of those surveyed had less than 1g of salt. Those with the higher levels of salt were those with either high salt additions (such as bacon) or with high salt dressing (such as the Macdonalds Low-Fat Ceasar dressing). However, independent reviews would suggest that for the bulk of the population, lowering salt levels only has small effects on blood pressure, so we probably shouldn’t worry about it that much anyway. Those interested in making healthy food choices should probably avoid buying from fast-food establishments and instead prepare salads at home where they can avoid high sugar and high salt additives.”
I guess that doesn’t make such compelling news, instead leading to a twisting of the truth in order to make a journalistic headline. However, all that this kind of misleading reporting does is actually reinforce poor eating habits, misquote and overstate findings, and fail to really give the public an objective and balanced perspective on how to make better food choices.
Shame on you Sky News, next time try harder.
References:
Hooper review (2009) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/o/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD003656/frame.html
Jurgens review (2003) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/o/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD004022/frame.html
You can catch up with Graeme, and see what he’s up to, on his Facebook page.
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- What Grinds Graeme’s Gears – Stupid Weight Loss TV
- What Grinds Graeme’s Gears – To Tabata or not to Tabata
- Why exercise won’t make you fat and more nonsense du jour…
- Why politicians can save us from obesity, drugs, alcohol, smoking, crime and the energy crisis
- How to sort fact from fiction in health and fitness
