FDA issues guidelines to cut salt in U.S. diet

The Food and Drug Administration, citing an epidemic of diet-related illnesses, released new guidelines Wednesday aimed at reducing the amount of salt Americans consume at restaurants, school cafeterias and food trucks, or when they’re eating packaged and prepared foods at home.

The recommendations, issued after years of delay, seek to reduce the average daily sodium intake 12 percent over the next 2½ years by encouraging food manufacturers, restaurants and food service companies to scale back their use of salt.

That goal translates into 3,000 milligrams of salt — slightly more than 1 teaspoon — compared to the 3,400 milligrams that Americans typically consume in a day. Health experts offered modest praise for the new guidance, saying it would help draw attention to the problem of excess sodium, but many expressed concern that voluntary measures might not be enough to compel change in an industry that often bridles at regulatory oversight.

America’s love affair with salty foods has been linked to alarmingly high rates of high blood pressure, a leading risk factor for heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. More than 4 in 10 American adults have high blood pressure; among Black adults, that number is 6 in 10, the FDA said.

Much of the excess sodium that Americans consume, about 70 percent, comes from processed and packaged food and meals served at restaurants, according to researchers.

Lowering sodium intake by about 40 percent over a decade, the FDA said, could save 500,000 lives.

The guidance will apply to 163 categories of processed and packaged food and provide different targets for, say, rye bread, salad dressing and baby food.

Nutritionists and public health experts commended the FDA for taking on the problem of excess sodium, saying the effort would help sharpen the public’s focus on the dangers of overindulgence and would press food companies to reduce their reliance on salt as a cheap flavor booster. But many said that voluntary measures were unlikely to move the needle much.

Some experts have suggested mandatory reductions, though they acknowledge that the food industry’s formidable lobbying power makes such measures unlikely.