If you want to know whether you're getting enough Vitamin C, no problem, right! You just look at the label on that can of green beans you just ate. It's the law that food distributors must disclose the nutrition content of the food they sell.
But what if you need to know how much potassium you are consuming? And that is a question that haunts a lot of people with medical conditions. Kidney patients, for instance, are in danger of potassium overload. And too much potassium can give you a heart attack! Meanwhile, other people are potassium deficient which is also a serious health issue. The Food and Drug Administration is well aware of this problem. That's why a proposal is in the works to change food labeling requirements to require disclosure of potassium. Please join me in asking the Food and Drug Administration to move forward with their new proposed guidelines and demand disclosure of potassium.
To the Food and Drug Administration:
We the undersigned believe that we should have ALL the information we need about the food we eat. Potassium is an essential mineral because it keeps our hearts pumping. Without potassium, people die. Too much potassium is also hazardous to one's health. Kidney patients, especially those on hemodialysis, are extremely susceptible to potassium overload. Many other people are potassium deficient, and they may not even know it. It is obvious from your proposed new labeling guidelines that you know how important it is to disclose potassium content. We ask, therefore, that you move forward with the new guidelines and demand that food labels include potassium content.
