Group Urges FDA to Reduce Salt in U.S. Foods

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could help save tens of thousands of American lives each year by doing more to encourage food companies to reduce the salt content in their products, according to news from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson plans to testify on the importance of reducing salt intake in the U.S. when the FDA holds a public hearing on the matter this Thursday at its Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in College Park, Maryland. Representatives from medical organizations, food companies and other groups are also expected to attend the hearing.

The CSPI first petitioned the FDA in 1978 to urge the agency to reduce dietary salt consumption in the U.S. It filed a second petition in 2005, and has also sued the agency twice for failing to do more to cut the salt content in foods.

According to the American Medical Association, reducing the salt content in processed and restaurant foods could save 150,000 lives each year in the U.S.

"Very few people dispute that Americans get way too much salt from processed and restaurant foods, and that that excess promotes hypertension, stroke, heart attacks, kidney failure and early death," Jacobson said. "While the FDA has historically declined to challenge companies to lower high sodium levels, it is increasingly hard for FDA officials to ignore the calls to action made in recent years by the medical community."

The average American consumes about 4,000 milligrams of sodium each day -- nearly twice the 2,300-milligram maximum recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. About half of the population, including seniors, middle-age people and African-Americans, should consume even less under those guidelines.

Typical Americans get most of their salt -- 77 percent, according to one study -- from processed foods and restaurant meals. According to the CSPI, some individual dishes might contain as much as two days' worth of sodium.

High-sodium foods include Swanson's frozen Hungry Man XXL Roasted Carved Turkey (5,410 milligrams of sodium), the Denny's Lumberjack Slam Breakfast (4,460 milligrams), a typical Reuben sandwich (3,270 milligrams), beef and cheese nachos with sour cream and guacamole (2,430 milligrams) and Marie Callendar's Classic One Dish Chicken Teriyaki (2,00 milligrams).

Other foods that contain more salt than many people might think include bread, which accounts for about 10.7 percent of daily salt consumption, and cheese, which contributes about 5.5 percent. Sodium content can also vary widely from brand to brand, according to the CSPI. Contadina tomato paste, for example, contains 237 percent more salt than Hunt's, while Hunt's tomato sauce has more sodium than Contadina's.

Center for Science in the Public Interest, "FDA to Hold Hearing on Regulating Salt Content in Food." URL: (http://www.cspinet.org/new/200711271.html)