The Food and Drug Administration issued draft guidance on its second round of voluntary sodium reduction targets in packaged and prepared foods, the agency’s latest effort to address diet-related diseases connected with high sodium intake.
Average sodium intake for Americans over the age of 1 is about 3,400 milligrams a day, which exceeds the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendations. Excess sodium intake can raise blood pressure, which puts individuals at greater risk of heart disease and stroke, according to FDA.
Efforts to cut overall sodium intake is part of the White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health to reduce diet-related diseases by 2030.
The proposed targets announced Thursday build on the first sodium reduction goals issued in 2021, which groups were working to meet by April. After it’s finalized, Phase 2 would set a new industry goal to work toward for the following three years.
The draft guidance suggests sodium levels for 163 food categories that are commercially processed or prepared in restaurants and other food service establishments.
More than 70% of total sodium intake is added during food manufacturing and commercial food preparation, according to the FDA. The targets included the second phase would support cutting sodium intake to about 2,750 milligrams per day, which is a 20% cut from intake prior to the 2021 targets.
Phase 1 targets aimed to reduce sodium intake from 3,400 milligrams per day to 3,000.
FDA is taking comments on the proposed new targets until Nov. 14.
FDA also released preliminary data on the first set of targets, comparing sodium levels from 2010 to 2022. It found that 40% of food categories had already met Phase 1 sodium targets, or were within 10% of meeting those goals.
“Reducing sodium in the food supply has the potential to be one of the most important public health initiatives in a generation,” said Jim Jones, FDA deputy commissioner for human foods, in a release. “The early successes we’re seeing with sodium level reduction in certain foods is encouraging and indicative of the impact we believe our overall nutrition approach can have on the wellbeing of society.”
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The greatest cuts in sodium were seen in the packaged food categories, with 60% of these items cutting sodium. Restaurant foods showed less progress, with 35% of those categories reducing sodium while 49% of the categories increased.
In specific food categories, toddler and baby foods had the most progress with all categories decreasing sodium, with some manufacturers exceeding Phase 1 target reductions. This was followed by dairy products, cereals and meat and poultry categories.
Additionally, as of 2022 manufacturers of some toddler and baby foods had exceeded Phase 1 target reductions.
Fruit, vegetables and legumes demonstrated the smallest reductions in sodium among food categories. About 21% of those categories reduced sodium while 47% increased.
FDA expects to have a more formal evaluation of Phase 1 progress when data from 2024 is available.