Abstract
Background/Objectives:There is an increasing public health concern regarding high salt intake, which is generally between 9 and 12 g per day, and much higher than the 5 g recommended by World Health Organization. Several relevant sectors of the food industry are engaged in salt reduction, but it is a challenge to reduce salt in products without compromising on taste, shelf-life or expense for consumers. The objective was to develop globally applicable salt reduction criteria as guidance for product reformulation.Subjects/Methods:Two sets of product group-specific sodium criteria were developed to reduce salt levels in foods to help consumers reduce their intake towards an interim intake goal of 6 g/day, and—on the longer term—5 g/day. Data modelling using survey data from the United States, United Kingdom and Netherlands was performed to assess the potential impact on population salt intake of cross-industry food product reformulation towards these criteria.Results:Modelling with 6 and 5 g/day criteria resulted in estimated reductions in population salt intake of 25 and 30% for the three countries, respectively, the latter representing an absolute decrease in the median salt intake of 1.8–2.2 g/day.Conclusions:The sodium criteria described in this paper can serve as guidance for salt reduction in foods. However, to enable achieving an intake of 5 g/day, salt reduction should not be limited to product reformulation. A multi-stakeholder approach is needed to make consumers aware of the need to reduce their salt intake. Nevertheless, dietary impact modelling shows that product reformulation by food industry has the potential to contribute substantially to salt-intake reduction.
Highlights
There is increasing public health concern regarding high sodium intake
Iterative modelling by using the typical daily menus showed that if the proposed product group-specific sodium criteria would be achieved, it should be possible to move salt intakes towards the interim target of 6 g and the long-term target of 5 g per day
In countries such as Spain and the United States (US), reformulation towards the product group-specific sodium criteria may not be sufficient, and increasing consumer awareness on the need to reduce intake of food products that contribute most to their salt intake is required
Summary
There is increasing public health concern regarding high sodium intake. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reviewed the guideline for sodium intake,[1] and confirmed their earlier conclusions regarding the adverse effects of high sodium intakes on blood pressure, and on the risk of cardiovascular disease.[2]Sodium intake largely originates from sodium chloride in the diet, commonly referred to as salt. The lack of a gold standard and/or globally applicable product targets stimulated Unilever to develop its own set of product group-specific sodium criteria aiming to reduce salt levels in foods over time to help consumers reducing their intake towards population intake targets.
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