18 Oct 2024
Though salt or sodium chloride, plays an important role in certain essential functions in the human body - like regulating fluid levels and absorbing nutrients in the body - according to the WHO, almost all populations are consuming too much sodium. That means it’s important to reduce our salt intake. What can we as food producers do to help our consumers? Read on to find out.
How much salt should we consume per day?
The WHO recommends that adults should consume less than 2000 mg/day of sodium, which is equal to a maximum of 5 g of salt per day.
Unfortunately, the global average adult intake of sodium is 4310 mg/day, which is equivalent to 10.78 g/day of salt. This is more than twice the World Health Organization's recommendation.
Bread is one of the main contributors to salt consumption. For example, in Belgium, bread is the #1 contributor to salt intake. As a result, salt reduction should be a priority for bakery manufacturers.
The risks of high consumption of salt
The WHO states that the primary health effect associated with diets high in sodium is raised blood pressure, but there are more risks related to overconsumption of salt in our diets.
- Heart strain: Your heart has to work harder when you consume too much salt, leading to a higher chance of heart problems.
- Kidney damage: Extra salt puts stress on your kidneys, which can cause kidney disease over time.
- Water retention: Salt can make your body hold onto water, causing bloating and swelling.
- Weaker bones: A high-salt diet can weaken bones by causing calcium loss.
- Increased thirst: Salt makes you thirsty, potentially leading to more consumption of sugary drinks, which leads to weight gain.
The risks of too much salt increase the chance of numerous related diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, gastric cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, Meniere’s disease, and kidney disease.
Interestingly, reducing sodium intake is one of the most cost-effective measures to improve health and reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases. A 2009 study found that reducing the average sodium intake to 2300 mg/day, roughly 6 g, could eliminate 11 million cases of hypertension and save 18 billion US dollars in healthcare costs.
Our commitment to reducing salt
We see our role as more than just supplying ingredients. We explore the changing world of nutrition, finding innovative solutions backed by science to help our customers thrive.
As part of our long-term commitment to Better Health, we aim to reduce the amount of sugar, salt, and fat we include in our products.
Our long-term objectives
By 2030, we aim for health and well-being products to represent 50% of our sales.
This means indirectly meeting consumer needs for healthier diets and lifestyles by offering our customers a wide range of health and well-being solutions. We aim to achieve this by:
- Further increasing the amount of wholesome ingredients, such as fiber-rich grains, nuts, seeds, and fruit, in our products.
- Further decreasing the amount of sugar, salt, and fat we include in our products.
- Increasing the amount of clean(er) label, organic, gluten-free, and plant-based solutions.
How effective has this been?
In 2023, 32% of Puratos's sales came from Health and Well-Being Solutions. In terms of salt reduction, last year we successfully removed 86 tons of salt present in our products. Since 2017, we've reduced a total of 1215 tons of salt from our products.
Whilst we’ve made great strides in our commitment to better health, we continue to look for innovative ways to reduce salt, sugar, and fat from our products.
Puratos reduced salt solutions
Our solutions to reduce the salt content in baked goods allow a salt reduction claim to be added to a finished good without compromising on functionality, taste, or texture.
We offer 2 categories of salt-reduction solutions:
- Complete or concentrated mixes - e.g. some local solutions that offer ready-to-bake breads with 25% salt reduction
- Modular solutions - e.g. S500 Salt Reduction: the best-performing improver on the market for salt reduction, delivering 25% less salt without compromising on taste.
