Evaluation and Comparison of Sodium in High Consumption Foods with the Amount Reported on Nutritional Label in Kermanshah

Background & objectives: Proper food labeling can help improve a diet and health. Due to the importance of sodium in the diet, determining the amount of sodium in food and comparing it with the amount reported on nutrition labels was the objective of the present study. Methods: In this study, 96 high-consumption foods were examined in 5 groups, including meat and protein products, dairy products, snacks, white sauce, tomato paste, and macaroni. Sodium content was measured by a flame photometer (Halstead, Essex, England). Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon test and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: Mean values of sodium found in meat and protein products (409.35±183.04 mg) were significantly higher than the amount reported on nutritional labels (317.90±273.95 mg) (p=0.005). For groups of white sauce and tomato paste, mean values of sodium were significantly lower than the nutritional labels (p=0.002). For dairy products and macaroni was no significant difference between the sodium content reported on the nutritional labels and the actual value. In 67% of examined food, the amounts of sodium did not match those reported by nutritional labels, being lower or higher than the value reported.  Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the amount of sodium reported on nutritional labels significantly differed from the amounts used in raw materials. Therefore, it is essential to carefully control the amounts of sodium during food production processes and monitor nutritional labels.