



The report ' Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States ," issued by the Institute of Medicine ( IOM ) on April 20, 2010, announced the request for new federal standards of salt within foods by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).The chair of the Committee on Strategies to reduce Sodium Intake, a part of the Institutes of Medicine, made a statement at the news conference to announce the report.Dr. Jane E. Henney , a professor of medicine at the University of Cincinnati (Ohio), stated in the WebMD article Experts Urge FDA to Mandate Salt Reduction , ''If you look at salt intake over a number of decades, it has not gone down despite a number of efforts and it is still at a very high level.'The WebMD article also provides a discussion on the other side of the story'”from the salt industry and other related industries, which does not want to be told to reduce salt from foods.Please read the WebMD article 'Experts Urge FDA to Mandate Salt Reduction,' as mentioned above, for more information on both sides of the debate as to whether to voluntarily reduce salt from foods or to mandate it by the FDA.Page two concludes with additional information from a Medical News article on why salt (sodium chloride) is a growing problem in the United States and elsewhere.





The April 21, 2010 Medical News article Nutrition experts call for sodium reduction strategies states:'Sodium is a major culprit in our nation's epidemic of high blood pressure-a disease that can start in childhood and will afflict nine out of 10 Americans over the course of their lifetimes.''A 35 percent reduction in Americans' average daily sodium intake could save billions of dollars annually on health costs-and save upwards of 90,000 lives-by lowering people's blood pressure, and in turn, their risk of heart disease and stroke.''But achieving this will take a comprehensive, population-wide effort, one that includes federal leadership to create a level playing field so that all food companies can move in concert toward gradual, steady reduction of sodium levels.'