The key to life nutrition program: results from a community-based dietary sodium reduction trial.

OBJECTIVE

Evaluation of a dietary Na reduction trial in a community setting.

DESIGN

Community-based randomized trial. Ten-week nutrition intervention activities focused on lifestyle modification to decrease dietary Na intake, under the supervision of a registered dietitian. Twenty-four hour urine specimens were collected at baseline and follow-up visits to determine 24 h urinary Na excretion.

SETTING

The University of Pittsburgh Center for Healthy Aging, Key to Life Nutrition Program.

SUBJECTS

Hypertensive adults at least 65 years of age.

RESULTS

Mean age of participants was 75 years. Twenty-four hour mean urinary Na excretion at baseline was 3174 mg/d. This reduced to 2944 mg/d (P = 0.30) and 2875 mg/d (P <or= 0.03) at 6- and 12-month follow-ups, respectively. In a sub-sample (urine volume of >or=1000 ml, baseline to 12 months), mean urinary Na excretion decreased from 3220 mg/d to 2875 mg/d (P <or= 0.02).

CONCLUSIONS

Significant reductions in mean 24 h urinary Na were reported, but results fell short of the recommended guidelines of 1500 mg/d for at-risk individuals. Our results reiterate the difficulty in implementing these guidelines in community-based programmes. More aggressive public health efforts, food industry support and health policy changes are needed to decrease Na levels in older adults to the recommended guidelines.