The warnings are nearly ubiquitous: Americans consume too much salt. The National Academy of Medicine reinforced the advice on Tuesday with a recommendation to consume less than 2,300 mg a day to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Consumer and public health groups said the report should spur the FDA to release voluntary sodium reduction targets for restaurant and processed foods as well as encouraging schools to take salt out of school food.
Most Americans consume 50 percent more sodium than the limit of 2,300 mg – a teaspoonful – that is commonly recommended. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the government’s tips for healthy eating, suggests people aim for less then 2,300 mg. More than 70 percent of sodium in food is added in restaurants or in the manufacturing of processed and packaged foods, says the American Heart Association (AHA).
“Most Americans eat too much salt without knowing it,” said AHA chief executive Nancy Brown. “Now is the time to break our nation’s love affair with salt to improve public health.”
The 14-member committee of experts that produced the report created a new category, “chronic disease risk reduction” (CDRR) intakes, for sodium of 2,300 mg a day for people over age 14. Lower limits were recommended for younger people, beginning at 1,200 mg a day for ages 1-3, 1,500 mg a day for ages 4-8, and 1,800 mg a day for ages 9-13.
“The CDRR is established using evidence of the beneficial effect of reducing sodium intake on cardiovascular disease risk, hypertension risk, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure,” said the Academy report. “Reduction of sodium intakes above the sodium CDRR is expected to reduce chronic disease risk within the apparently healthy population…Intakes above the CDRR increase the risk of chronic disease in the population.”
Congress blocked release of FDA’s voluntary sodium reduction targets while the Academy of Medicine reviewed and updated the Dietary Reference Intake recommendations for sodium and potassium. DRIs suggest safe and adequate ranges of consumption. While it set CDRRs for sale, the review committee said there was too little research to set them for potassium.
“The new report should put an end to efforts by some food industry groups to spread misinformation and delay vital policy solution,” said Bonnie Liebman of the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest. The AHA and CSPI called for FDA release of sodium targets and criticized the USDA for weakening salt standards for school foods.
“The new NAM recommendations make clear that current amounts of sodium in school meals increase the risk of diet-related disease for children,” said Liebman.
A trade group for salt makers, the Salt Institute, has defended higher levels of consumption as healthy. Last August, it said a study in a medical journal found consumption of 3,000-5,000 mg a day was healthful. The trade group, which is dissolving at the end of March, was not immediately available for comment on the National Academy of Medicine report.