RDA and related tracking systems concerned with sodium.

Abstract

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services have developed a five-point set of sodium initiatives aimed at moderation of sodium consumption, improved sodium-related information for consumers and health professionals, and improved consumer choice in the marketplace. Implimentation is fundamentally based on a voluntary premise, and indications to date are that the program is working. FDA has established a series of tracking systems to measure change over time, particularly relative to changes in the sodium content of the food supply, in the sodium content of American diets, in sodium labeling -both quantitative and qualitative, in consumer understanding of the sodium-and-hypertension problem, and in consumer food purchasing practices. Some of these efforts are conducted in cooperation with other Federal agencies such as the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Department of Agriculture. The epidemiological approach to measurement of the prevalence of hypertensive disease as provided by the periodic National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys is at the center of all other tracking systems to measure effectiveness of the national effort to reduce sodium intakes and thereby hopefully moderate the magnitude and severity of hypertensive disease as a major public health problem in the United States. (Hypertension 4 (supp HI): III-170-III-175, 1982) KEY WORDS • Food and Drug Administration federal health programs sodium tracking • epidemiology Sodium InitiativesThese sodium initiatives came about because a clear consensus gradually emerged in the mid-and late-1970s from the biomedical community that it would be

Health promotion roles of the federal government and food industry in nutrition and blood pressure.

“…This consensus, which applied not only to hypertensive patients but also to the general population, was based on findings that there is a relation between sodium intake and the onset and pathogenesis of the disease itself. 24 The five aspects of the FDA initiatives included 1) labeling of packaged foods, 2) voluntary reduction of salt content by the food industry, 3) consumer education, 4) monitoring of marketplace and food consumption changes, and 5) consideration of new legislation to mandate sodium labeling if voluntary efforts fail. 25 In 1986, the FDA also issued regulations that define sodium terms used on food labels.…”

“…32 In relation to salt/sodium blood pressure initiatives, this system permits the measurement, over time, of changes in the salt/ sodium content of the food supply and of typical diets, changes in sodium labeling, changes in practices, awareness, and concerns pertaining to salt/ sodium intake, and changes in the prevalence and control of hypertension and related risk factors, such as obesity. 24 Information from the monitoring system may be used to make decisions about nutrition education and nutrition labeling. Information may be used by the research community in its development of hypotheses for the role of dietary and nutritional factors in disease causation and prevention.…”