Doctor Criticizes Lunch Product for High Salt Content

Lunchables, a package of meat, cheese and crackers sold by the Kraft unit of Philip Morris Cos., contains enough salt to raise blood pressure in certain laboratory rats and may pose a health risk to some humans, a Wisconsin physician said Monday.

Lunchables “may be a dangerous snack for families with a history of high blood pressure,” Dr. Clarence Grim of the Medical College of Wisconsin said at a news conference at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Anaheim.

In reply, Kraft called the Wisconsin study “junk science at its worst.”

“The whole premise of the study is preposterous. . . . This is yet another attempt to unnecessarily frighten American consumers about the food they eat,” Kraft said in a statement.

The Wisconsin medical researchers said their study used three groups of salt-sensitive rats, a special breed “thought to be a good model for salt toxicity in humans.” An estimated 25% of Americans carry a gene that makes them susceptible to higher blood pressure resulting from salt consumption.

Grim said one serving of the Lunchables he used contained 1,780 milligrams of salt, near the 2,000 milligram-level likely to cause high blood pressure in salt-sensitive people and equal to 74% of the daily recommended adult salt intake.