Mandatory cuts for salt content in processed foods on the horizon

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDApr 22 2010

This Tuesday The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has urged the US Food and Drug Administration to start regulating the amount of salt in processed foods. This measure according to them can do what years of advising people to cut down on salt have failed to do.

The FDA in its reply has said that it will review the Institute's recommendations "over the coming weeks" and work with "the food industry to support the reduction of sodium levels in the food supply."

But researchers are still not happy with this since salt replaced with added sugars is just as bad for health. In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association authors report that added sugars can cause high blood cholesterol that leads to heart disease. The American Heart Association recommends that added sugars should be limited to less than 5% of the total calorie intake which is nearly 100 calories per day for women and 150 calories for men. There has been a lot of talk about removing the bad trans-fats from processed foods as these are detrimental to heart health too.

With the new injunction on salt in these foods, manufacturers may look at alternatives like potassium instead of sodium. But this could be harmful too for people with certain diseases like diabetes, heart and kidney disease.

This new report from the IOM is titled “Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States” and recommends measures to reduce sodium in diet from a consensus from a panel of experts. Chairperson of the IOM's Committee on Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake and a Professor of medicine at the University of Cincinnati, Jane E. Henney says, “If you look at salt intake over a number of decades, it has not gone down despite a number of efforts and it is still at a very high level.” She said, “The strategies in the report have the potential to greatly impact the lives of Americans…Lowering salt intake will reduce adverse health effects such as high blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke…Once Americans reach their 50s, the risk of developing high blood pressure over the remainder of their lives is estimated to be 90%, even for those with healthy blood pressures [before then].”

The committee calls for mandatory establishment of safe sodium levels. The food industry ‘big-wigs’ seem unhappy with this mandate. According to Lori Roman, president of the Salt Institute at Alexandria, Va, a more voluntary salt reduction is welcome. She said, “We believe the whole premise, the whole idea of population-wide sodium reduction, is nonsensical. You don't have the federal government prescribe something for an entire population that may have a very small health benefit for a small population of people and may have negative consequences for a small percent of the population.” And she also believed that in some cases salt cut down could do more harm than good. But many companies have come forth with a pledge to cut down on the sodium content in their foods. This includes ConAgra Foods’ effort in 2009, Bumble Bee Foods, General Mills Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Kraft Foods Inc. and Campbell Soup Co.

In reply the supporters of salt cuts in food feel that this measure can not only reduce high blood pressure but also save nearly 100,000 lives each year in the US from heart attacks, strokes and kidney diseases. The IOM report goes on to say that 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends a maximum of 2,300 mg or about 1 teaspoon of sodium to be taken per day with 1,500 mg being enough for an individual. An average American however takes more than 3,400mg or 1.5 teaspoons per day.

The IOM has suggested some measures to bring about this change. They recommend appropriate food labelling with exact amount of sodium on processed food packs as well as in menus of restaurants etc.