Key result
A community-level sodium-reduction intervention decreased the percentage of prepackaged products with >200 mg of sodium from 29.0% at baseline to 21.5% at follow-up (P=0.003).
Why the study?
Does a community-level sodium-reduction intervention reduce the proportion of higher-sodium prepackaged products in community institutions?
Observational
Yes
Does a community-level sodium-reduction intervention reduce the proportion of higher-sodium prepackaged products in community institutions?
Absolute Event Rate: 21.5% vs 29%
p-value: p=.003
A community-level intervention modestly reduced the availability of higher-sodium prepackaged products in local institutions, which may help support population-level hypertension management.
May inform institutional sodium policies; leaves open effects on intake or hypertension outcomes.
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate a community-level sodium-reduction intervention in Boston, Massachusetts. Reducing sodium in the food offerings of community settings may help reduce hypertension disparities. METHODS: We examined changes in the proportion of prepackaged foods with greater than 200 milligrams of sodium in 7 hospitals, 8 YMCAs, 4 community health centers, and 2 organizations serving homeless populations. Research assistants documented prepackaged items in cafeterias, kiosks, and vending machines before and after the intervention (2013-2015). We assessed intervention change via linear mixed models accounting for repeated observations. RESULTS: There were 161 access points at baseline (4347 facings) and 171 (4996 facings) at follow-up. The percentage of prepackaged products with greater than 200 milligrams of sodium decreased from 29.0% at baseline to 21.5% at follow-up (P = .003). Changes were driven by improvements in hospital cafeterias and kiosks (P = .003). The percentage of products with greater than 200 milligrams of sodium in YMCA vending decreased 58% (from 27.2% to 11.5%; P = .017); other organizations had nonsignificant declines. CONCLUSIONS: We found modest reductions in the percentage of higher-sodium prepackaged products across community institutions. Community-level interventions may increase availability of lower-sodium products in the food supply.
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Brooks et al. (2017) conducted an observational in High sodium in food offerings. Community-level sodium-reduction intervention vs. Baseline was evaluated on Proportion of prepackaged foods with greater than 200 milligrams of sodium (p=.003). A community-level sodium-reduction intervention decreased the percentage of prepackaged products with >200 mg of sodium from 29.0% at baseline to 21.5% at follow-up (P=0.003).
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