New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has developed a new tool, called MenuStat, for those interested in detailed information about restaurant foods. MenuStat aggregates information about the sodium, calories, fat, and other nutritional information in more than 35,000 menu items at major chain restaurants. The tool also allows users to compare items from different restaurants and see how they have changed, nutritionally, over time. – NPR
Sodium Reduction Can Save More Lives than Quitting Smoking
Consuming less salt can save more lives than quitting smoking, according to research presented at the recent MeetEat conference in Oslo, Norway. Senior researcher Ulla Toft calculated that Denmark would have 400,000 fewer cases of elevated blood pressure and at least 1,000 fewer deaths, saving hundreds of millions of dollars each year, if average daily salt consumption per capita were reduced by 3 grams. Toft’s research shows that a 15% cut in salt intake could prevent three times as many deaths from cardiovascular disease as a 20% cut in smoking would in Denmark. – ScienceNordic
Community Education and Subsidizing Salt Alternatives Can Cut Sodium Intake
Community education and price strategies targeting sodium intake in Chinese villages reduced daily sodium intake and increased daily potassium intake, according to findings presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2013. Compared with villagers not involved in the intervention, individuals who participated in community health education reduced daily sodium intake by 13 millimoles (about 300 milligrams) and increased daily potassium intake by 7 millimoles (about 270 milligrams). Similar changes were seen among villagers who also had access to salt substitutes at a reduced price. – MedPage Today
U.K. Government Scraps Plans for Tougher Salt Reduction Targets for Many Products The U.K. Department of Health has cancelled plans for more restrictive sodium reduction targets for several products, accepting industry claims of technical barriers and the risks of unacceptable changes in taste. In January 2013, the agency postponed an overhaul of sodium reduction targets until technical issues had been investigated; after reviewing these issues, the agency decided to leave targets unchanged—or even relax them in some cases. For example, the Department of Health has proposed not changing the maximum sodium levels for bacon and ham and relaxing the targets for sausage from 2012 levels. – The Grocer