Lower sodium limits in prepackaged foods may reduce death, CVD risk
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Data suggest reducing sodium limits on prepackaged foods to comply with new WHO benchmarks could prevent nearly 1,800 deaths and thousands of related diseases on a population level in Australia per year, researchers reported.
“By lowering sodium levels in packaged foods to the benchmarks set by WHO, this could lower the Australian population’s sodium intake by 12% and avert 1,770 deaths and 6,900 new cases of heart disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD) and stomach cancer each year,” Kathy Trieu, PhD, senior research fellow at The George Institute for Global Health, told Healio. “Reducing sodium levels in packaged foods can be an effective strategy to reduce sodium intake, lower blood pressure and prevent significant disease and death on a population level.”
Data were derived from Trieu K, et al. Hypertension. 2023;doi:10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.122.20105.
In 2021, WHO released global sodium benchmarks for packaged foods to guide countries in setting feasible and effective sodium reformulation programs. However, there have not been any head-to-head evaluations comparing the WHO benchmarks with existing national sodium reformulation targets, according to the researchers.
Trieu and colleagues modeled the dietary and health impact of full compliance with WHO’s sodium benchmarks in Australia and compared it with the potential impact of Australia’s 2020 sodium reformulation targets.
The researchers estimated sodium intake before and after implementation of the WHO and Australia’s sodium benchmarks for 24 age-sex groups, using nationally representative data on food and sodium intake, sodium levels in packaged foods and food sales volume.
The researchers than estimated potential deaths, incidence and disability-adjusted life-years averted from CVD, CKD and stomach cancer based on the reductions in sodium intake.
The findings were published in Hypertension.
Compliance with the WHO’s sodium benchmarks for packaged foods in Australia could lower mean adult sodium intake by 404 mg per day, corresponding to a 12% reduction from baseline sodium intake from all dietary sources, the researchers wrote.
Of the 11 major food categories with global sodium benchmarks, the largest reductions in sodium intake were attributed to reformulations in “processed meat, poultry, game, fish and similar” (32%); followed by “bread, bread products and crisp breads” (20%); and “sauces, dips and dressings” (12%), according to the researchers.
“Currently, 80%, 81%, and 64% of products in the three categories, respectively, are not meeting the WHO sodium benchmarks and would be subject to reformulation,” the researchers wrote.
The models suggested compliance with the benchmarks could prevent about 1,770 deaths in Australia per year (95% uncertainty interval [UI], 1,168-2,587), predominantly due to averted CVD deaths (about 1,450 per year; 95% UI, 890-2,201).
Additionally, researchers estimated that achieving WHO sodium benchmarks could avert 4,500 new cases of CVD (95% UI, 2,935-6,324), 2,050 new cases of CKD (95% UI, 1,282-3012) and 350 new cases of stomach cancer (95% UI, 217-551) each year.
Full compliance could also prevent about 25,670 (95% UI, 17,655-35,796) DALYs from CVD, CKD and stomach cancer each year, Trieu and colleagues found.
Compared with the Australian sodium targets, WHO benchmarks will avert around 3.5 times more deaths each year (1,770 vs. 510), the researchers wrote.
“Research into the potential health care cost savings and the cost-effectiveness of programs to reduce sodium levels in packaged foods — thereby reducing new cases of disease and deaths — could help motivate policymakers to further encourage manufacturers to cut sodium levels in their products to the WHO’s recommended benchmarks,” Trieu told Healio.
For more information:
Kathy Trieu, PhD, can be reached at ktrieu@georgeinstitute.org.au; Twitter: @georgeinstitute.
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