Monitoring sodium content in packaged foods sold in the Americas and compliance with the updated regional sodium reduction targets.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sodium reduction is a cost-effective measure to prevent noncommunicable diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) established a target of a 30% relative reduction in mean population intake of sodium by 2025. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) published sodium reduction targets (SRTs) for packaged foods in 2015, expanding and updating the targets in 2021 to help Member States with its efforts in reducing population sodium intake.

Objective

This study examined the current sodium levels in packaged foods among five countries in the Americas and monitored cross-sectional and longitudinal compliance with the sodium targets from 2015 to 2022.

Methods

Food labels were systematically collected from the main supermarkets in five countries in the America

SUBMITTER: Yang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11967937 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature