Letters: Apr. 5, 1982

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Too Much Salt?

To the Editors:

You are to be praised for your excellent article "Salt: A New Villain?" [March 15], which brings to the attention of your readers the relationship between high blood pressure and the use of salt. However, I would like to mention that Dr. Walter Kempner of Duke University School of Medicine introduced a severe low-salt diet, the Kempner Rice and Fruit Diet, in 1941 for the treatment of hypertension. This regime has the lowest salt content of any diet. His knowledge contributed to one of the greatest breakthroughs in the treatment of hypertension in our history, and to a dramatic decrease in the incidence of strokes by 49% during the past three decades.

Charles K. Donegan, M.D.

St. Petersburg, Fla.

Now I really am in trouble. Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or has too much salt in it.

Ed Drone

Suttons Bay, Mich.

Fresh oranges, grapefruit and their respective juices are very low-sodium foods. For example, a 6-oz. serving of either grapefruit juice or orange juice contains only 2 mg of sodium, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

John A. Attaway

Scientific Research Director

Department of Citrus

Lakeland, Fla.

The Kellogg Co. wants to clarify your statement "Baked goods and cereals are the No. 1 source of sodium in the diet of many Americans." Ready-to-eat cereals contribute only 2.9% of the sodium from food; cooked cereals, 2%; and all other baked goods, 27.2% (U.S.D.A., 1977-78). While the total grain food category may add a considerable amount of sodium to the diet, ready-to-eat and hot cereals, as consumers know them, provide only 5%. Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats® cereal is low in sodium (only 5 mg per 1-oz. serving) and is readily available in grocery stores.

William E. LaMothe, Chairman

Kellogg Co.

Battle Creek, Mich.

Amnesty Reports

Your article on who is killing whom in El Salvador [Feb. 22] questioned the objectivity of human rights organizations in regard to that country and suggested that Amnesty International was "forced to rely on data supplied by the Salvadoran [human rights] organizations."

Amnesty International has examined information and eyewitness testimony from all sections of Salvadoran society. It has recently published evidence collected by one of its fact-finding missions that visited seven refugee camps in neighboring countries. The mission reported mass killing and torture of noncombatants by Salvadoran government forces. Reliable information reaching Amnesty International shows the continuation of these abuses.

David Laulicht, Press Attaché

International Secretariat

Amnesty International

London

Loans to Rumania

Your article "Now It's Cash-Strapped Rumania" [March 8] contained two errors. Contrary to your assertion, First Chicago International is not owed $100 million by Rumania. Our actual loan exposure is a fraction of this. In addition, First Chicago has not been associated with any group of international bankers that visited Bucharest "to talk things over."

James A. Cassin, Executive Vice President

First National Bank of Chicago

Chicago

Smoke Signals

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