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Public health experts urged the Food and Drug
Administration Tuesday to force food makers to gradually cut the
salt hidden inside their products, something the agency is
considering.


      Americans eat about 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt daily, more than double
what they need for good health - and high enough to increase risk
of high blood pressure and other problems. Most of that sodium
comes inside common processed foods - from soups to frozen pizza to
sliced cheese.


      Tuesday, the prestigious Institute of Medicine said the food
industry hasn't done enough to voluntarily cut back. It urged the FDA
to set maximum sodium levels for different foods in a stepwise
rollback, so people have time to adjust to the change.


      The FDA hasn't decided whether to regulate sodium levels, but
"no options are off the table," said spokeswoman Meghan Scott.


      "There is no initiative at the moment," she said. But, "there
is very little debate any longer over the impact sodium has."


      The IOM is an independent agency chartered by Congress to advise
the federal government, and is just the latest in a string of
health groups to pressure the FDA in recent years to cut the salt.

OFFICIALS CITE HEALTH REASONS FOR PROPOSED RESTRICTION

      The American Medical Association has said that if the salt in
processed and restaurant food were cut in half over 10 years, that
ultimately 150,000 lives a year could be saved.


      One in three U.S. adults has high blood pressure, in turn a
leading cause of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. And
while being overweight and inactive raises blood pressure, too much
salt is a big culprit as well.


      Government guidelines set 2,300 milligrams of sodium as the
maximum daily intake - the amount above which health problems can
appear. But the IOM says people need just 1,500 mg a day, even less
if they're over 50. Yet average consumption is more than 3,400 mg.


      Major foods makers have started reducing sodium in recent years,
but have argued that they don't have tasty ways to replace sodium
for deep cuts - and they fear consumer backlash as the taste
changes.


      But specialists say people do gradually get used to the taste of
less sodium.


      "The best way to accomplish this is to provide companies the
level playing field they need so they are able to work across the
board to reduce salt in the food supply," said Dr. Jane E. Henney
of the University of Cincinnati, a former FDA commissioner who
chaired the IOM report.
      

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Public health experts urged the Food and Drug
Administration Tuesday to force food makers to gradually cut the
salt hidden inside their products, something the agency is
considering.


Report: FDA should force rollback in salty foods

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