By Gina Kolata, New York Times, May 14/15, 2013

In a report that undercuts years of public health warnings, a prestigious group convened by the government says there is no good reason based on health outcomes for many Americans to drive their sodium consumption down to the very low levels recommended in national dietary guidelines.

Those levels, 1,500 milligrams of sodium a day, or a little more than half a teaspoon of salt, were supposed to prevent heart attacks and strokes in people at risk, including anyone older than 50, blacks and people with high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease — groups that make up more than half of the American population.

Some influential organizations, including the American Heart Association, have said that everyone, not just those at risk, should aim for that very low sodium level. The heart association reaffirmed that position in an interview with its spokesman on Monday, even in light of the new report.

But the new expert committee, commissioned by the Institute of Medicine at the behest of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said there was no rationale for anyone to aim for sodium levels below 2,300 milligrams a day. The group examined new evidence that had emerged since the last such report was issued, in 2005 [.....]

My comment: It's so ironic that if you can manage to live long enough, with or despite the help of doctors, you also live to see a lot of the conventional medical wisdom of your youth get revised. The evil of salt for all may soon go the way of such things as margarine being good for you, all cholesterol being bad, and tonsils as things to be removed....

Repeat after me: the practice of medicine is an art, not a science. Also too: if it's something all the doctors are doing, and something all the doctors are saying is the best thing ever, time to look at the possible idiocy as well as the wisdom of a herd.

P.S. Oh and if you haven't learned it by now, Germs can be our friends.