Opportunities for Reducing Sodium in Restaurant Foods
A new article published today in Preventing Chronic Disease highlights ways in which public health and restaurants can work together on sodium reduction. The article, “From Menu to Mouth: Opportunities for Sodium Reduction in Restaurants” offers strategies such as –
·Creating or joining a group purchasing organization.
·Incorporating sodium reduction into training programs for restaurants.
·Incentivizing sodium reduction.
·Providing staff time from a registered dietitian for nutrition analysis.
The article may be found here: http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2014/pdf/13_0237.pdf, a related blog posting, here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/23/health/frieden-sodium-restaurants/index.html, and related resources, here: http://www.cdc.gov/media/dpk/2014/dpk-sodium-content.html.
No Change in Sodium Content of Restaurant Menu Items from 2010 – 2011 A study published this week in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics assessed changes in the sodium content of 213 main entrée items from US restaurants. Between spring 2010 and spring 2011, study authors collected nutrition information from the restaurants' websites and found no significant change in average sodium content overall. However, average sodium content was 70 mg lower across all restaurants when comparing items that were added vs removed at the 75th percentile. The study also found that sodium was reduced among higher-sodium entrées at the 75th percentile in family-style restaurants, but not on average.
The study, “Changes in the Energy and Sodium Content of Main Entrées in US Chain Restaurants from 2010 to 2011” may be found here: http://www.andjrnl.org/article/S2212-2672(13)01249-5/abstract?elsca1=etoc&elsca2=email&elsca3=2212-2672_201402_114_2&elsca4=nutrition_dietetics.
New Yorkers are Exceeding Sodium Intake Recommendations Average daily sodium intake in 2010 was estimated to be 3,239 mg per day among New York City adults, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health. The study, “Sodium Intake in a Cross-Sectional, Representative Sample of New York City Adults” collected data on 1,656 adults in the Heart Follow-Up Study and found that 81% of participants exceeded their recommended limit for sodium intake. According to study authors, these results “demonstrate the feasibility of 24-hour urine collection for the purposes of research, surveillance, and program evaluation.”
The study may be found here: http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301542.
New Papers on Sodium Reduction A series of papers on sodium reduction were recently published in the journal Circulation.
·Lower Levels of Sodium Intake and Reduced Cardiovascular Risk maybe found here: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2014/01/10/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.006032.abstract
·Lower Levels of Sodium Intake and Reduced Cardiovascular Risk: The Challenge to Achieve Lower Sodium Recommendations may be found here: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2014/01/10/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.007964.abstract
·Sodium, Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Disease: A Compelling Scientific Case for Improving the Health of the Public may be found here: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2014/01/14/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.008138.abstract.
·Sodium Excretion and Risk of Developing Coronary Heart Disease may be found here: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2014/01/14/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.004290.abstract.