“Do the study and find out the truth”: Salt Institute

College Park, MD… (November 29)… “FDA should join the Salt Institute in encouraging a controlled trial of whether a population reduction in dietary salt would improve public health,” the Salt Institute testified today at a Food and Drug Administration hearing on whether FDA should reconsider its 1982 affirmation of salt as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS).

Evidence from health outcomes studies shows no benefit from salt reduction, but no controlled trial has been done. “Let’s do the study and find out the truth,” suggested Salt Institute president Richard L. Hanneman.

He explained that the government has already developed the protocol for such a trial and urged: “This is an investment well worth making.”

The Institute represents salt companies and has advocated an “evidence-based” approach to public health nutrition policy. “Policy should be based on endpoint outcomes like cardiovascular mortality or all-cause morality,” not intermediate factors like blood pressure, he said. He noted that a 30 year study in Finland suggested that “salt reduction may retard achieving other health improvements.”

Salt contributes to product quality and identity and to food safety, he added. Rather than a “single nutrient intervention,” the Institute advocates a food-based effort to improve the overall quality of the American diet, which Hanneman said has been proven to improve cancer risk, cardiovascular health and all-cause mortality. “Correcting current deficiencies in potassium, calcium and magnesium by encouraging greater consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and dairy products would be a superior strategy,” he said.

FDA last reviewed the GRAS status of salt in 1982 and its preliminary statement this year declared: “FDA is not aware of any fundamental changes to these considerations since it published the 1982 policy notice.” The Institute agreed.

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Note: The Institute’s full statement is online at http://www.saltinstitute.org/pubstat/fda-11-29-07.pdf

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