Decker Part of National Panel That Set Guidelines for Sodium, Potassium Intake

Eric Decker
Eric Decker

Eric Decker, the university’s head of food science, was one of the 13 expert members of a National Academies of Sciences (NAS) committee that this week released new dietary recommendations for sodium and potassium, essential nutrients that play vital roles in the human body. His expertise was featured prominently in the Boston Globe.

The NAS report linked overconsumption of sodium, which is abundant in salt, to chronic disease and created a new category of dietary recommendations to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions.

Sodium intake should be under 2,300 milligrams a day to reduce chronic disease risk, the report concluded, and the ideal recommended intake is 1,500 milligrams a day for people age 14 and older. A single serving of a popular brand of frozen supreme pizza contains more than 1,600 milligrams of sodium.

Decker told the Globe that the average adult in America consumes 3,400 milligrams a day of sodium, and some people consume up to 5,000. “The more you can decrease the more benefit,” he said.

Decker traveled monthly to Washington, D.C., for a year and a half to review the latest evidence on the potential effects of low and high sodium and potassium intake among the general population in the U.S. and Canada. The new guidelines are the first update since the daily intake recommendations were established in 2005.

The study lowered the adequate intake numbers for potassium and found that, for most people, there is no daily limit on the amount of potassium it’s safe to consume. Good sources of potassium include sweet potatoes, white beans, leafy green vegetables, bananas and avocadoes.

Decker told the Globe that more research is needed to determine more clearly how diet affects health.“The frustrating thing about these processes and these recommendations is the government doesn’t really fund the kind of studies and assessment needed for dietary intake,” Decker said. “There just isn’t a lot of good data out there.”