Reducing Salt in Processed and Prepared Foods

Grantee Name

Fund for Public Health in New York

Funding Area

Special Projects Fund

Publication Date

April 2014

Grant Amount

$199,600

Grant Date:

October, 2009 – July 2011

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Scientific evidence strongly suggests a direct relationship between sodium levels and blood pressure: as sodium intake increases, so does blood pressure.

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Reducing sodium consumption is a public health priority, but the only available data to measure levels of sodium consumption at the population level come from national surveys using the method of 24-hour dietary recall. The gold standard method for assessing sodium intake is measurement of sodium excretion in 24-hour urine samples, and has been used previously in other countries. In the absence of a nationally representative survey using this method, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH) proposed to conduct the Heart Follow-Up Study to assess New York City’s sodium intake through 24-hour urine collection. In 2009, NYHealth awarded the Fund for Public Health in New York, on behalf of NYCDOHMH, a grant to support this study.

Outcomes and Lessons Learned

Recruited 1,775 participants, which was 12% more participants than the 1,586 adults it had planned to enroll;
Adapted the protocol to improve the study results and strength of findings;
Leveraged additional grant dollars from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, which allowed NYCDOHMH to add a spot urine collection component to the study in a subset of participants; and
Published an editorial on the National Salt Reduction Initiative, “Can We Finally Make Progress on Sodium Intake?” in the September 2012 issue of American Journal of Public Health.

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