We forget that as we grow older, our bodies undergo change. More importantly, we have to make drastic changes to our lifestyle as our bodies slow down with age. While I have managed to be physically fit, I believe my timely lifestyle and dietary choices enabled me to be relatively much healthier than an average person of my age. I think it is pertinent to mention here that I crossed 65 recently. I’ve delved into ways of changing my dietary habits. One of the most important decisions I made was to cut down significantly on my sugar and salt intake. Both sugar and salt in excess lead to lifestyle diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure. In the last few years, I have taken efforts to cut out sugar completely from my diet and greatly reduced my salt intake.

While there have been numerous alternatives to sugar, it is, however, a challenge to find a substitute for salt. After days of research, I stumbled upon a study led by Taylor C. Wallace from the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at George Mason University, which stated that MSG can enhance flavour and contains significantly less sodium than table salt and is likely safer than diets high in table salt.

Imagine my surprise to learn that MSG is a great alternative to salt but is completely banned in Pakistan even though renowned health organizations like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have classified MSG as a food ingredient that’s generally recognized as safe. I would urge our government food authorities to revisit the ban and seriously consider re-introducing MSG back into the market as a safer and healthier alternative to salt.

SYED OVAIS AKHTAR,

Karachi.