Cross-sectional comparisons of sodium content in processed meat and fish products among five countries: potential for feasible targets and reformulation

• Published in: BMJ open 2021-10, Vol.11 (10), p.e046412-e046412
• Main Authors: Song, Yuzhu, Li, Yuan, Guo, Chunlei, Wang, Yishan, Huang, Liping, Tan, Monique, He, Feng J, Harris, Terry, MacGregor, Graham A, Ding, Jingmin, Dong, Le, Liu, Yu, Wang, Huijun, Zhang, Puhong, Ma, Yuxia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Consumption; Data collection; Developing countries; Epidemiology; Food products; health policy; LDCs; Meat; Nutrition; preventive medicine; Public Health; Salt; Sodium
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046412

IntroductionReducing sodium intake has been identified as a highly cost-effective strategy to prevent and control high blood pressure and reduce cardiovascular mortality. This study aims to compare the sodium content in processed meat and fish products among five countries, which will contribute to the evidence-base for feasible strategies of sodium reduction in such products.MethodsSodium content on product labels of 26 500 prepackaged products, 19 601 meat and 6899 fish, was collected in supermarkets from five countries using the FoodSwitch mobile application from 2012 to 2018. To be specific, it was 1898 products in China, 885 in the UK, 5673 in Australia, 946 in South Africa and 17 098 in the USA. Cross-sectional comparisons of sodium levels and proportions meeting 2017 UK sodium reduction targets were conducted using Kruskal-Wallis H and the χ2 test, respectively across the five countries.ResultsThe results showed that processed meat and fish products combined in China had the highest sodium level (median 1050 mg/100 g, IQR: 774–1473), followed by the USA, South Africa, Australia, with the lowest levels found in UK (432 mg/100 g, IQR: 236–786) (p