The American Medical Association is meeting next week at its AGM and high on the agenda will be the problem of the nations unhealthy dieting habits and it will be discussing whether to make official pronouncements on the reduction of salt in foodstuffs sold natiowide and even whether sugary and fattening soft drinks should be taxed.

Over 500 doctors will be meeting at the conference and there will be a number of resolutions that will be brought forward, including one that recommends that the Food & Drug Administration should have stricter rules on the amount of salt in fast food and processed produce in restaurants and supermarkets. The recommendation is to cut salt content in these food stuffs by 50% over 10 years.

The FDA has guidelines on the correct amount of salt to consume daily and the majority of US citizens eat far more than the recommended daily amount many different health groups have been lobbying for the strict limiting of the salt content.

The other important resolution to be voted upon calls for the taxation of soft drinks which excess sugar. This move is being strongly resisted by the drinks industry and the idea is that the money raised will be pumped into anti-obesity health programs to restore the balance to obese Americans and also to slow down the consumption of these drinks.

Already a few US cities and States already have put taxes on sugary drinks and fast food and this can raise serious funds but this money has yet to be put towards anti obesity campaigns. The AMA remains an important lobbying group within the US government and at present it has a membership of nearly 250,000 US doctors and if the vote on these resolutions is successful the US government will have to really sit up and listen.