Science of Salt Weekly

Background

Nearly every country (181 of 187) in the world consumes in excess of the WHO recommended maximum salt intake of 5g per day. The high profile provided by public health efforts has resulted in a vast number of publications on dietary salt. The rapidly growing volume of research makes it challenging to stay up to date as to what is the best strategy for improving health.

Aim

The objective of this project is to identify, summarize and appraise studies reporting on:

1.  the relationship between dietary salt and health outcomes, and
2. the implementation of salt reduction strategies,

with a view to assist scientists, clinicians and policy makers to stay informed about the effects of salt on health and the best strategies to lower salt intake.

Research Methodology

Relevant articles are identified through an established weekly Medline literature search. The automated search strategy was adapted from an approach used to conduct Cochrane systematic reviews for the development of WHO dietary salt recommendations. Summaries of the eligible studies are published in a weekly newsletter, Science of Salt Weekly.

Regularly updated systematic reviews on the relationship between dietary salt and health outcomes, and the implementation of strategies to achieve salt reduction in populations, are being published in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension.

Impact

New Knowledge – the publications are disseminated widely to ensure relevant stakeholders are up to date on the Science of Salt

Publications

Protocol

1. Announcing “Up to Date in the Science of Sodium” (Found here)

Annual review

1. The Science of salt: a systematic review of clinical salt studies 2013 to 2014 (Found here)
2. The Science of Salt: a systematic review of quality clinical salt outcome studies June 2014 to May 2015 (Found here)

Thematic review

1. The Science of Salt: A focused review on salt-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, and gender differences (Found here)
2. The Science of Salt: Updating the evidence on the global estimates of salt intake (Found here)
3. The Science of Salt: A global review on changes in sodium levels in foods (Found here)

Implementation

1. The Science of salt : a regularly updated systematic review of the implementation of salt reduction interventions (June-October 2015) (Found here)
2. The Science of salt: a regularly updated systematic review of the implementation of salt reduction interventions (November -February 2016) (Found here)
3. The Science of Salt: A regularly updated systematic review of the implementation of salt reduction interventions (March-August 2016) (Found here)
4. The Science of Salt: A regularly updated systematic review of the implementation of salt reduction interventions (September 2016-February 2017) (Found here)

Health outcomes

1. The Science of Salt: A regularly updated systematic review of salt and health outcomes (June and July 2015) (Found here)
2. The Science of Salt: A Regularly Updated Systematic Review of Salt and Health Outcomes (August to November 2015) (Found here)
3. The science of salt: A regularly updated systematic review of salt and health outcomes (December 2015 to March 2016) (Found here)
4. More evidence that salt increases blood pressure and risk of kidney disease from the Science of Salt: A regularly updated systematic review of salt and health outcomes (April to July 2016) (Found here)
5. High sodium intake increase blood pressure and risk of kidney disease. From the Science of Salt: A regularly updated systematic review of salt and health outcomes (August 2016 to March 2017) (Found here)
6. Paucity of high-quality studies reporting on salt and health outcomes from the science of salt: A regularly updated systematic review of salt and health outcomes (April 2017 to March 2018) (Found here)
7.  Science of Salt: A regularly updated systematic review of salt and health outcomes studies (April to October 2018) (Found here)

Further evidence that methods based on spot urine samples should not be used to examine sodium‐disease relationships from the Science of Salt: A regularly updated systematic review of salt and health outcomes (November 2018 to August 2019) (Found here)