Sodium Levels in Packaged Foods Sold in 14 Latin American and Caribbean Countries: A Food Label Analysis

Population-wide sodium reduction is a cost-effective approach to address the adverse health effects associated with excess sodium consumption. Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries consume excess dietary sodium. Packaged foods are a major contributor to sodium intake and a target for sodium r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nutrients 2019-02, Vol.11 (2), p.369
Main Authors: Arcand, JoAnne, Blanco-Metzler, Adriana, Benavides Aguilar, Karla, L'Abbe, Mary R, Legetic, Branka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biscuits
Bread
Breakfast cereals
Butter
Cakes
Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular diseases
Caribbean Region
Cereals
Cheese
Condiments
Consortia
Cookies
Cross-Sectional Studies
Cubes
Dairy products
Economic impact
Fast Foods
Flavorings
Food Analysis
Food Labeling
food policy
Food Supply
global health
Grocery stores
Humans
Hypertension
Impact analysis
Latin America
Mayonnaise
Meat
Noodles
Nutrition
Packaged food
Pasta
Public health
Recipes
Salt
Sausages
Snack foods
Sodium
Sodium - analysis
sodium reduction
sodium targets
Sodium, Dietary
Soups
Sweet taste
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Summary:Population-wide sodium reduction is a cost-effective approach to address the adverse health effects associated with excess sodium consumption. Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries consume excess dietary sodium. Packaged foods are a major contributor to sodium intake and a target for sodium reduction interventions. This study examined sodium levels in 12 categories of packaged foods sold in 14 LAC ( = 16,357). Mean sodium levels and percentiles were examined. Sodium levels were compared to regional sodium reduction targets. In this baseline analysis, 82% of foods met the regional target and 47% met the lower target. The greatest proportion of products meeting the regional target were uncooked pasta and noodles (98%), flavored cookies/crackers (97%), seasonings for sides/main dishes (96%), mayonnaise (94%), and cured/preserved meats (91%). A large proportion of foods met the lower target among uncooked pasta and noodles (88%), cooked pasta and noodles (88%), and meat/fish seasonings (88%). The highest the highest median sodium levels were among condiments (7778 mg/100 g), processed meats (870 mg/100 g), mayonnaise (755 mg/100 g), bread products (458 mg/100 g), cheese (643 mg/100 g), and snack foods (625 mg/100 g). These baseline data suggest that sodium reduction targets may need to be more stringent to enable effective lowering of sodium intake.
ISSN:2072-6643
2072-6643
DOI:10.3390/nu11020369