The new proposed guidelines are voluntary, so companies will not have to follow them.
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“We understand that there are some researchers who do not agree on the general consensus” that too much salt is bad, Thomas Frieden, the director of the CDC, told The New York Times.
Whether you can taste it or not, many food companies have already lowered the amount of sodium in their foods.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed new voluntary guidelines aimed at reducing the salt content in a variety of food items. “Experts at the Institute of Medicine have concluded that reducing sodium intake to 2,300 mg per day can significantly help Americans reduce their blood pressure and ultimately prevent hundreds of thousands of premature illnesses and deaths”. Food manufacturers have said Americans clearly prefer saltier foods and when one company lowers salt, it often loses sales to another company that keeps salt levels high. Wal-Mart, ConAgra Foods, Mars Food, Nestle and Subway restaurants say they have achieved major sodium reductions in their products.
The draft guidance is available for public comment.
Although a small but vocal number of medical experts have questioned whether current science supports such a substantial reduction in sodium consumption, most others agree that the evidence that too much sodium in our diets can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke is overwhelming. That amount hasn’t gone down over the years, and it’s about a third more than the government recommends for good health.
“Lowering sodium levels in the food supply could eliminate about 1.5 million cases of uncontrolled hypertension and save billions of dollars in health care costs over the next decade”, Brown suggested.
The guidelines, which are voluntary, urge the food industry to decrease salt levels in food to help people decrease their sodium intake to a healthier level over a short-term (two year) and long-term (10 year) period.
Despite efforts over the past several decades to cut down on sodium, a main component of table salt, the average American adult still consumes 3,400 milligrams a day – equivalent to about 1.5 teaspoons of salt. The FDA made a decision to go with a voluntary route instead.
Some companies have anxious that the guidelines are more warning than suggestion.
If companies do eventually comply with the guidelines, Americans won’t notice an immediate taste difference in higher-sodium foods like pizza, pasta, bread and soups. The draft short-term (two-year) and long-term (10-year) voluntary targets are meant to help the American public gradually reduce sodium intake to 2,300 mg per day. Some Republicans in Congress also have sharply criticized federal efforts to set salt targets.
Health groups have argued for mandatory standards, but say voluntary guidelines are a good first step.
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Leon Bruner, chief science officer for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents makers of food, beverage and other consumer products, said companies welcome “a dialogue with FDA on its sodium reduction targets and look forward to working with the agency to ensure the best and most recent science is taken into account when determining sodium intake levels for optimal health for all Americans”.
