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That's a tautology. The question is, what counts as a moderate intake of salt?

If Taubes is correct, average US salt intake is moderate. The government says it is excessive.

No offense but this is really an intellectually weak statement because moderation is dependent on what is considered "too much", and here we are looking to redefine just what "too much" really is.

Seriously, almost all of modern food/health science could be reduced down to this simple phrase. Eating too much of "X" is bad for you. No, really? Ya think?

Even cigarettes in moderation won't kill you.

I had fun debating the cigarette thing with my doctor.

I don't mean to beat this to death, but any kind of statement about moderation presupposes that we already understand how different amount of some substance will effect us. The topic under discussion boils down to "what is too little, what is too much and what is moderation?". You cannot answer that with "just go for moderation" when moderation is precisely what we are trying to define.

I see this kind of thing all the time and it irks me because I see so much agreement with what amounts to a circular statement.

Everything in moderation. Extreme moderation.

Everything in moderation, especially moderation.