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 The amount of salt brought into U.S. households through packaged
food and store-bought beverages fell by about 18 percent from 2000
through 2014, researchers found.
Still, they say, the vast majority of U.S. children and adults
consume well over the recommended amount of sodium every day.
"Households are getting less sodium form the grocery store, but I
think it’s important to know sodium in packaged foods is still way
too high," said lead author Jennifer Poti, of the Department of
Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "So we
have a long way to go."
Experts and dietary guidelines have urged people in the U.S. to cut
back on sodium. The current recommendation is to consume less than
2,300 milligrams (mg) per day, or the amount in about 1 teaspoon of
salt.
Too much sodium increases blood pressure by drawing water from the
body into the blood vessels, according to the American Heart
Association. High blood pressure can damage the blood vessels and
lead to serious problems like heart attacks and strokes.
Writing in JAMA Internal Medicine, Poti and colleagues cite a 2010
report form the Institute of Medicine calling for reduced sodium in
packaged foods, to bring down the amount in U.S. diets.
For the new study, the researchers analyzed data on packaged food
purchased from 2000 through 2014 by 30,000 to 60,000 U.S. households
each year. Overall, they had data on about 1.5 million products.
Over the study period, sodium from packaged foods and beverages fell
from 2,363 mg per day per person to 1,967 mg per day.
When they examined the nutritional content of the purchased foods,
the researchers found that the salt content in the products had
fallen about 12 percent over the study period.
In seven of the 10 biggest sources of salt among packaged foods and
beverages, sodium content declined at least 10 percent. Those
included items like condiments, sauces and dips.
The new study can't say why the amount of salt from packaged foods
and beverages declined. Poti said people didn't seem to drastically
change their purchases during the study.
"Potentially some of these changes are due to the removal of sodium
from products by manufacturers," she told Reuters Health.
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Despite the progress in reducing sodium, less than 2 percent of
households were buying foods and beverages considered to contain an
acceptable amount of salt, the study found.
Still, the results are encouraging, said Lisa Harnack, who was not
involved with the new study but recently published research on salt
in food.
"It suggests that Americans are decreasing sodium intake form
packaged food, which is important," said Harnack, of the University
of Minnesota School of Public Health in Minneapolis.
She also told Reuters Health that U.S. diets have a long way to go.
"People should read labels and aim for lower sodium products to
support their own health and increase demand for lower sodium
options," she said.
Poti said the results suggest the U.S. needs more concerted efforts
to reduce the amount of salt in diets.
"We really need to have more environmental-level efforts to remove
sodium from the products so consumers have more choices and that
there are lower sodium options in the marketplace," she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2s9ZHsx JAMA Internal Medicine, online June 5,
2017.
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