Modeling dietary patterns to assess sodium recommendations for nutrient adequacy

Area of Science:

• Nutrition Science
• Dietary Guidelines
• Public Health

Background:

• Dietary patterns incorporating nutrient-dense foods were developed for the 2010 Dietary Guidelines.
• These patterns often included low-sodium food options.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess if selecting lower-sodium foods can achieve a 1500 mg daily sodium intake without compromising nutrient adequacy.
• To evaluate the impact of typical food choices (higher calorie, higher sodium) on sodium intake.
• To explore the feasibility of using sodium density (mg Na/kcal) for recommendations.

Main Methods:

• Analysis utilized food patterns from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines development process.
• Nutrient adequacy was modeled by substituting lower-sodium foods.

Main Results:

• The lowest-sodium model achieved approximately 0.5 mg Na/kcal, ranging from 500-1250 mg/d.
• Typical food choices resulted in higher sodium density (1.6-2.0 mg Na/kcal) and intake (1715-5078 mg/d).
• The lowest-sodium model's sodium density was about 50% of the base model.

Conclusions:

• Nutritionally adequate dietary patterns meeting 1500 mg sodium/day are achievable by selecting low-sodium foods.
• Sodium density (mg Na/kcal) presents a practical metric for sodium recommendations.