Overview of salt reduction strategies and saltiness evaluation methods

Excessive dietary intake of high sodium often increases the risk of cardiovascular, and other diseases. Current researches have focused on the development of salt reduction strategies (SRSs), aiming to reduce salt content and maintain the acceptability of food. But the establishment of saltiness evaluation methods is also crucial for the development of low-salt foods in order to evaluate the effect of salt reduction. This paper firstly reviews the process of human saltiness perception, and summarizes the characteristics and research progress of corresponding SRSs. Then, different methods used for saltiness evaluation are summarized and their applications in SRSs are explored. To address the problem of a single saltiness evaluation method, the evaluation methods should be related to the food systems and the saltiness perception process in order to achieve more accurate and quantitative saltiness analysis. These objective methods for saltiness evaluation include spectroscopic, electrochemical, microscopy, animal and cells models, saliva proteomics analysis, biomimetic taste sensor, molecular docking and other simulation methods. Last but not least, the correlation between these methods and saltiness perception often needs to be verified by sensory assessment. This review can provide a theoretical reference for the food industry to support the development of sodium reduction foods. • Mechanism of human saltiness perception was analyzed in detail • Salt reduction strategies were integrated relating to saltiness perception mechanism • Evaluation methods for saltiness perception were summarized from human to instruments • Applications of saltiness perception evaluation methods in saltiness regulation system