Abstract
Monitoring levels of sodium (salt) in meals consumed out-of-home is needed to support effective implementation of salt-reduction strategies. The objective of the study was to examine lunch salt intake at 15 worksite canteens and to compare with results from a comparable study conducted 10 years before. A duplicate-portion-technique with subsequent chemical analysis was used to quantify 240 customers’ lunch salt intake. Estimated mean salt intake was 2.6 g/meal (95% Cl: 2.2 to 3.0 g/meal) and 0.78 g/100 g (95% Cl: 0.69 to 0.88 g/100 g). Salt intake measured both as g per meal and per 100 g was found to be significantly higher for male compared with female participants (+0.10 g/100 g, 95% Cl: +0.02 to +0.17 g/100 g, p = 0.011). Compared with the study conducted 10 years before, there was a significantly lower estimated salt intake of 0.5 g/meal (95% CI: −0.8 to −0.2 g/meal, p = 0.001), suggesting a possible reduction in canteen lunch salt intake during a 10-year period. Still, 40% of the meals exceeded the Nordic Keyhole label requirements of maximum 0.8 g salt per 100 g for ready meals. A further reduction of salt intake is warranted to comply with salt reduction targets.
Highlights
Excessive sodium intake is associated with several adverse health events, hypertension, a leading risk factor for death and disease burden worldwide [1,2,3,4]
Up to three-quarters of the total salt intake comes from food consumed out of home and processed foods, whereas salt added to food at the table and in home food preparation generally is a minor contributor to total sodium intake [12,13]
The results from the present study showed that the estimated mean lunch salt intake at 15 Danish worksite canteens was 2.6 per meal or 0.77 g per 100 g
Summary
Excessive sodium (salt) intake is associated with several adverse health events, hypertension, a leading risk factor for death and disease burden worldwide [1,2,3,4]. In Denmark it is estimated that almost a quarter of the population consume 11 g salt or more per day [8]. Up to three-quarters of the total salt intake comes from food consumed out of home and processed foods, whereas salt added to food at the table and in home food preparation generally is a minor contributor to total sodium intake [12,13]. There is a great demand for food business operators to reduce the salt content in their products. Food product reformulation has Nutrients 2018, 10, 1367; doi:10.3390/nu10101367 www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients
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