Healthy salt?

by Tim Lawton, M.D.

Is there a healthy alternative to table salt? In last month's article, "Bringing Down High Blood Pressure," I mentioned a salt substitute used in Finland called Pansalt.

This product contains a mixture of sodium, potassium, magnesium, and lysine. Pansalt has replaced conventional table salt (sodium chloride) in over 1000 commercial food products in Finland, and it is even being used by restaurants such as McDonald' s. Since the introduction of Pansalt in the 1970's, deaths from heart attacks and strokes have dropped by 60% in Finland. A similar product called Heart Salt is available at the Gift of Health.

"Unorganized" sports prevent childhood obesity

Unorganized sports such as street hockey and riding a bicycle are better for a child than sitting at home watching television, according to a Canadian study that appeared in the International Journal of Obesity recently.

Art lessons, music lessons, and even playing video games are better than sitting passively and watching television. When the child is playing video games, he or she is at least actively involved in the game and not snacking on high calorie foods out of boredom. But unorganized sports are best.

Unlike organized sports where the child is sitting on the bench waiting for their chance to play, in unorganized sports the child is actively involved with playing the game. "They are on the move all the time," the researchers said.