2000

Dietary Guidelines for Americans (USDA/HHS, 2000)

Choose and prepare foods with less salt

Healthy Americans 2 or more years of age

2005

Dietary Guidelines for Americans (USDA/HHS, 2005)

Consume < 2,300 mg/d of sodium (~1 tsp salt)

Choose and prepare foods with little salt, and consume potassium-rich foods, such as fruits and vegetables

Americans 2 or more years of age

Individuals with hypertension, African Americans, and middle-aged and older adults: Aim to consume no more than 1,500 mg/d of sodium, and meet the potassium recommendation (4,700 mg/d) with food

High-risk populations

2010

Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Convened expert Advisory Committee to update the Dietary Guidelines for Americans for the year 2010. Sodium intake is included as a topic area for discussion (results pending)

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

1973

Food labeling (HHS/FDA, 1973)

Required specific format when a nutrition claim was made in labeling or advertising or when a nutrient was added to a food

Better information about the sodium content of foods was an early focus

1979

Evaluation of the health aspects of sodium chloride and potassium chloride as food ingredients (SCOGS, 1979)

Consumption of sodium chloride should be reduced

Guidelines should be developed for restricting salt in processed foods

The sodium content of processed foods should be labeled