Reducing salt in food; setting product-specific criteria aiming at a salt intake of 5 g per day

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.

Figure 1

Estimated impact of reformulation on salt intake using daily menu modelling. The vertical bars indicate current salt intake from foods* in the typical daily diet, and the modelled intake after replacing actual sodium levels in food products by 6 and 5 g/day criteria. The horizontal dashed lines indicate total daily salt-intake targets of 6 and 5 g salt/day. *Discretionary salt use was not taken into account.

Figure 2

Estimated impact of reformation on salt intake by using the dietary survey data. (a) In total population. (b) In high-salt users. Median daily salt intake in the total US, UK and NL population at baseline ‘as measured' and the estimated intake after simulated product reformulations according to the 6 and 5 g/day criteria. The percentages indicated reflect the potential relative reduction in total daily salt intake owing to reformulation compared with ‘as measured' intake.