Background
Excess dietary sodium intake increases blood pressure and consequently increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Globally, high sodium intakes are responsible for an estimated three million deaths. In response, WHO has issued guidance on limiting sodium intake to reduce blood pressure, risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and coronary heart disease. In 2013, Member States have agreed on a global target to reduce mean population sodium intake by 30% by 2025 for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases.
Low-sodium salt substitutes are alternatives to regular salt (sodium chloride) both as an ingredient of pre-packaged foods and salt added to food and beverages by the consumer. These alternative salts include less sodium than regular salt and often add potassium chloride with or without other agents to achieve a flavor similar to regular salt. The use of low-sodium salt substitutes is increasingly considered as a potential blood pressure lowering strategy by national health authorities and public health organizations, but global guidance on the use of these substitutes is currently lacking.
WHO has developed recommendations on the use of low-sodium salt substitutes in accordance with the current WHO guideline development process, which includes an assessment of systematically compiled scientific evidence and considerations of factors relevant to the implementation of the recommendation.
WHO is now inviting Member States and all relevant stakeholders to comment on the draft guideline.
General guidance on providing comments
The public consultation will be open from 31 March to 30 April 2023. Feedback is especially sought on overall clarity, any potentially missing information, setting-specific or contextual issues, considerations and implications for adaptation and implementation of the guideline, and additional gaps in the evidence to be addressed by future research. During this time, the draft guideline will also undergo peer-review by an external expert group. Once the peer-review and public consultation are complete, the guideline will be finalized and reviewed by the WHO Guidelines Review Committee for final clearance prior to its official release.
Those interested in providing comments will be requested to complete, sign and submit a declaration of interest (DOI) form, and consent to having their name, organization/affiliation, country of residence or affiliation, and comments posted to the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety webpages on the WHO website.
The consultation has ended.
Contact
Please direct questions regarding the consultation including any technical difficulties with the online form, to NFS@who.int with the subject “LSSS guideline”.