Soduim Content in Foods is Almost Constant!

No doubt that sodium is an important risk factor for hypertension. The American Heart Association estimates that there are 78 million adults in the US (1 in 3) have high blood pressure. In a workshop organized by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) on sodium and blood pressure, the report stated

“There is an abundance of scientific evidence demonstrating a direct relationship with sodium intake and blood pressure”.

I came across an interesting article published in JAMA Internal Medicine this week titled “Changes in Sodium Levels in Processed and Restaurant Foods, 2005 to 2011”. Dr. Stephen Havas from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and his colleagues collected the sodium content data in processed food from the nutrition facts label in 2005, and recollected the same data for the same food products in 2011.

The main finding with their analysis is that the sodium content in the 402 processed food products declined by only 3.5% over 6 years. On the other hand, the sodium content in 78 fast-food restaurants’ products increased by 2.6%. Table 1 in their paper shows that Caesar salad dressing and Turkey breasts are the top 2 food categories, with highest sodium content in 2005 to 2011. Canned tuna fish, canned tomato, sliced turkey breast, and vegetable soup had the highest decline of the sodium content by about 22%, from 2005 to 2011. For the rest of the processed foods, the sodium content either remained constant or changed by ±2%.

Among the restaurant foods, the sodium content in the French fries increased by 27% from 2005 to 2011. Cheese pizza’s sodium content increased by about 12% in the same period.

The authors outlined in Table 3 the names of some companies that committed to reduce sodium levels in their products. For example, the Domino’s Pizza committed to decrease the sodium content in the smart pizza slice for schools by a third. Wal-Mart committed to reduce sodium by 70% in fresh steaks and roasts.

The authors concluded that 

“It is clear from this analysis that reductions in sodium content in both processed and restaurant foods are both inconsistent and slow”

I think it is a time for the local, state and federal government to look into new ways to enforce sodium content reduction in processed and restaurant foods to alleviate the burden of preventable diseases (like hypertension). This could be similar to what Mayor Michael Bloomberg did by prohibiting the sale of soda cans more than 16 ounces. Although there has been a resistance against the implementation of this bill, public health advocates has long way to go.