Decker to Take Part in National Review of Sodium, Potassium Dietary Standards

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Eric Decker, head of food science, has been named to the 13-member National Academies of Sciences (NAS) “Committee to Review the Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium.”

Decker, who will travel to Washington, D.C., for the committee’s meetings several times a year, says, “It’s an honor to serve on this distinguished committee and have the opportunity to partake in a review of the science to help establish these important nutrition guidelines.”

Over the next 18 months, committee members will assess current relevant data and update, as appropriate, the dietary reference intakes (DRI) for sodium and potassium. Their review will consider indicators of deficiency, inadequacy, toxicities and relevant chronic diseases and will describe dietary sources of the two nutrients in foods, beverages supplements, antacids and water. The two elements work in complementary fashion to regulate blood pressure, with potassium tending to decrease it while sodium tends to increase it.

The study will incorporate the Agency for Healthcare Research’s systematic evidence review of sodium and potassium on chronic disease endpoints, as appropriate, and NAS’s Health and Medicine Division’s report on guiding principles for including chronic disease endpoints, with DRI organizing framework.

NAS states, “Indicators for adequacy and excess will be selected based on the strength and quality of the evidence and the demonstrated public health significance, taking into consideration sources of uncertainty in the evidence. Estimates of dietary intake of sodium and potassium will be compatible with optimal health throughout the lifespan and may decrease risk of chronic disease where data indicate they play a role.”

The committee will review evidence on indicators of inadequacy and potential effects of low sodium and potassium intake, plus indicators of excess intake relevant to the general U.S. and Canadian populations. They will include subgroups whose needs for or sensitivity to the two nutrients may be affected by blood pressure, age or factors related to race or ethnicity, as well as by “particular conditions which are widespread in the population such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes or chronic kidney disease.” 

NAS committees also are expected to review evidence in relevant literature reviews and to create summary tables on study design, setting, participant age, gender or life-stage group, sample size, intervention or exposure, methods used to determine nutrient intake levels and outcome measures and a description of the statistical analyses. 

They will update indicators on which to base DRIs and update the DRIs, for specific age, gender and life stage groups using the agency’s approved risk assessment approach and guiding principles. The NAS committee will be asked to identify research gaps to address the uncertainties identified in their process of deriving reference values and evaluating their public health implications.