With a (Huge) Pinch of Salt
I'm a cynic. It shouldn't come as anything of a surprise, or be for up discussion, particularly if one researches who the cynics were, and what they believed (another subject, for another time). However, I've come to a conclusion that I find stretches even my cynical outlook. In the general scheme of things it comes to very little, and is based on wholly subjective foundations.
One of the topics hot in the media for the last few years has been health, and how our life-style contributes over time to our own individual well-being. Obvious concerns in recent decades have been, smoking, sugar intake, monosodium-glutamate, colourants, fat consumption. Most recently salt levels in our food, and their link to coronary disease have been the topic of the day. Lately, I have noticed - as I say, entirely subjectively - that salt levels in one particular supermarket chain's own-brand snacks seems to actually have risen, almost to unpalatable levels, and I can&spos;t help but wonder why in light of the current public concerns. The answer came to me last night, in a flash of inspiration, and I find myself wondering at my own cynicism as a result: a few months down the line Sainsbury's (the chain in question) will drop the salt back to normal levels whilst trumpeting to the world, in a big marketing campaign exploiting the current bandwaggon, how they have reduced salt levels in their products by a whopping X per-cent.
For me it's a win/win conclusion. If I'm right, clever me. If I'm wrong I can take comfort in winding back a little on the cynicism. But either way right now there is still too much salt in Sainsbury's own-brand snacks, although I only know this because I have been munching my way through far too many of them. Time to get back to healthy eating. There we are - another plus.
