Sodium intake reduction in volunteer families by using a salt substitute and nutrition counselling.

A double-blind study on the home use of regular salt (RS) and a salt substitute, called Mineral Salt (MS), was done in 58 volunteer families all with a 13-year-old child. All the salt used at home was replaced by one of the test salts for 4 months. After the first 2 months the parents were given a 5-hour course on reducing sodium intake by changing food habits. The test salt consumption was measured by weighing the leftover salt after 2 and 4 months. The parents and 13-year-old children collected 24-hour urine samples at the beginning of the study and after 2 and 4 months. The home use of test salt fell from 2.9 to 2.6 g/family member in the RS group (nonsignificant) and from 3.4 to 2.9 g in the MS group (significant at p less than 0.01). There were no statistically significant changes in the sodium or potassium urinary outputs during the study. The results indicate that the home use of MS alone or counselling on changing food habits alone or a combination of the two was not effective enough to reduce sodium intake to a degree detectable by the study methods.