Sodium Trends in Selected U.S. Total Diet Study Foods, 2003-2011

ObjectiveCharacterize trends in sodium concentrations in the general categories of foods analyzed in the U.S. FDA Total Diet Study (TDS) program from 2003 through 2011. Methods: Trends were assessed for sodium concentrations in a small convenience sample of TDS foods from 2003 to 2011 using simple linear regression with the SAS regression procedure, focusing on sodium concentrations in foods in USDA's sentinel food categories. Results: Levels of sodium in various TDS foods varied over time. Overall, 75 TDS foods did not have statistically significant linear changes in sodium content during that time, and 23 TDS foods did. Certain sentinel foods such as ramen-style noodles showed gradually increasing sodium content from 2003 through 2011. Significance: Over three quarters of foods show no statistically significant linear changes over time. Although a number of selected foods had a statistically significant decline, a limitation to this study is that specific brands of TDS foods were not necessarily the same for each period. The results suggest that some sodium reduction has been occurring in some foods and supports the idea that commercially viable reductions are possible. Such reductions in the sodium content of foods could have large public health implications—rates of hypertension and related health consequences would likely decline—thus saving thousands of lives and billions of dollars each year.