Sodium vs. salt: Let’s agree to disagree: I VOTE sodium

[Guest guest]

The United States lists sodium on nutrition labels while salt is more common

in the European Union. Salt and sodium are not the same, and a standardized

term would only cause confusion.

The United States delegation to next week’s

Codex<http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/content/search?SearchText=Codex & FromNe\

ws>Committee

on Food Labeling meeting has said it will push for

sodium<http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/content/search?SearchText=sodium & From\

News>,

rather than

salt<http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/content/search?SearchText=salt & FromNews\

>,

to become the international labeling standard. But this is an unnecessary

debate; if consumers understand a particular term in one country but not

another, homogenized terms will only dilute existing public health messages.

Internationally standardized sodium labels may be useful for multinational

food manufacturers, but that’s not who they are intended to serve.

Part of the dispute centers on the fact that the nutrient is sodium, not

salt, and sodium is also present in other food ingredients, including common

leavening agents such as bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Although

this is true, the vast majority of the sodium we consume comes from salt.

Sodium may be well understood by American consumers, but if food makers

switched to labeling sodium rather than salt in the EU, even the most

health-conscious Europeans would be unable to name their recommended maximum

daily intake, and that is surely counterproductive.

The UK’s ‘eat no more than 6g a day’ (about 2,400mg sodium) salt campaign,

along with action from food manufacturers, has seen great success – average

daily salt consumption there is 8.6g, down from 9.5g a decade ago.

For those aiming to reduce their salt intake, European governments could

spend time and money reeducating the public that, actually, the nutrient is

sodium, but this seems a huge waste of resources to simply assuage a taste

for pedantry.

Even within the United States, standardized sodium recommendations have

proved elusive. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend a daily

maximum of 2,300mg of sodium for those without hypertension risk factors

(1,500mg for those at risk), while food label daily values are based on a

2,400mg maximum. Meanwhile, the American Heart Association recommends that

everyone should aim for less than 1,500mg.

The European Union, perhaps more accustomed to the inherent difficulties of

finding a single solution to every labeling issue, has taken a more

conciliatory approach to the upcoming Codex meeting.

In a letter detailing its position on nutrition labeling, the EU’s Codex

delegation said it supports the declaration of sodium expressed as salt on

nutrition labels, but added that if no consensus can be reached, the

decision should be left to individual countries.

*“The EU believes that it is important for the terminology in nutrition

labeling to be coherent with the public health messages in the country or

region concerned,”* the document said.

Hear, hear.

Currently, the EU allows for labeling of sodium in a (voluntary) nutrition

information panel, while front-of-pack labeling tends to focus on salt

content as a proportion of daily intake. This is an area of ongoing debate

in the region. Let’s allow the debate to run its course and hope that

clarity for consumers remains top of mind.

The Codex Committee on Food Labeling should be applauded for finding

international common ground on many issues – but when it comes to salt vs.

sodium, if it works, don’t break it.

LINK<http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Regulation/Sodium-vs.-salt-Let-s-agree-\

to-disagree/?c=T0QtS5cvuDWJH%2FaGLX7Okg%3D%3D & utm_source=newsletter_daily & utm_me\

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--

Ortiz, MS, RD

*The FRUGAL Dietitian* <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

Check out my blog: mixture of deals and nutrition

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