We all need salt to survive, but most Americans consume far, far too much of the substance. They ingest so much -- a lot of it unwittingly, to be sure -- that salt intake has become a major and costly threat to the nation's overall health. A new report urges the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to address the problem through strict regulation of salt that is added to food. It is a recommendation that should become fact.
Excess salt, or sodium, intake is a proven danger. Health officials recommend consumption of about 2,400 milligrams of sodium daily. Most American adults, well-vetted studies show, consume about 3,400 milligrams a day. The result is predictable -- and disastrous -- in terms of public health.
Excess sodium intake has been linked directly to high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks. Indeed, as many 150,000 premature deaths a year in the United States from those and related ailments can be tied to excess salt intake. Moreover, the problems that arise from excess sodium in the body cost the nation billions of dollars -- some medical economists put the number as high as $24 billion -- in health care costs annually. Any program that can reduce the toll and expense and improve health and life expectancy is welcome.
American lifestyle is, perhaps, the main culprit in the nation's overuse of salt. Some people automatically salt food before tasting it. The real culprit, in the American diet, though, is the amount of salt in many canned and preserved foods and, especially, in food prepared in fast food and other restaurants. Some popular fast-food offerings, for example, contain more than the daily recommended intake of salt in a single serving. That's hardly news.
High-profile education campaigns over the years have made modest headway in convincing Americans to reduce sodium intake, but not enough to bring major change. In fact, those campaigns have failed to make much headway in states like Tennessee, where excess salt intake undoubtedly plays a major role in the state's high rate of adverse cardiac events and obesity.
More must be done to convince Americans to pursue better health by reducing salt intake. The report urges the FDA to work with restaurants, food manufacturers and food service companies to set limits on the amount of salt added to foods, and to do so in a way that enhances the chance of meaningful change. Initially, the proposed FDA takeover, which also includes changes in food product labeling and packaging, would be voluntary. Eventually, the new standards would become mandatory with yet-to-be determined penalties.
One suggestion in the Institute of Medicine report is especially interesting. It urges the FDA to implement reductions in sodium content incrementally over a period of years rather than all at once. That's a practical approach. Small decreases would be less noticeable, hopefully making it easier for consumers' taste buds to accept the change.
FDA involvement in reducing salt intake is commonsensical. Nothing else has worked. Some might say that FDA regulation of salt intake is government run amok. It is not. It is, rather, a plausible way to slow or reverse Americans' alarming ingestion of salt. The FDA should act quickly and sensibly to regulate food manufacturers, who currently can add as much salt as they like to their products. We all will be much healthier when such action is taken.