PETITION CLOSED

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Health Agencies: Lower the Recommended Daily Salt Serving
  1. Signatures
    206 out of 500
    Petitioning
    1. Secretary/USDA (+ 2 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • Secretary/USDA (Tom Vilsack)
      • Secretary/HHS (Kathleen Sebelius)
      • Director of Public Affairs/USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (John Webster)
  2. Created By
    Sarah Parsons
    Silver Spring, MD
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

Update 2/4/11: On January 31, 2011, the USDA/HHS jointly released their new dietary guidelines. The agencies lowered the recommended daily sodium intake to 1,500 milligrams for "at-risk" people (children, African Americans, people older than 50, and anyone with hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease). However, for the other half of the population, the agencies maintained the previous dietary guidelines' recommendation of no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day.

Eating too much salt can be deadly for consumers. Excess sodium intake contributes to high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and kidney problems. About 90 percent of Americans develop high blood pressure at some point in their lifetimes--90 percent!

Despite this public health crisis, the current Dietary Guidelines put the recommended daily sodium intake at 2,300 milligrams per person, per day. Public health groups like the American Heart Association and the Center for Science in the Public Interest say this recommendation is far too high. To really protect consumers' health, the groups say, that amount should be no higher than 1,500 milligrams per day.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are responsible for creating the Dietary Guidelines, and they're issuing new guidelines soon. Please join us in asking the agencies to lower the daily recommended intake of sodium from 2,300 milligrams to 1,500 milligrams per day.

Recent Signatures

Lower the Dietary Guidelines' Daily Sodium Recommendation

Greetings,

The current Dietary Guidelines say Americans should consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. We ask that you lower this amount to 1,500 milligrams per day.

Eating too much salt causes high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and kidney problems. About 90 percent of Americans will develop high blood pressure at some point in their lifetimes--90 percent! As the American Heart Association reports, one study indicates that if consumers reduced their daily sodium intake to 1,200 milligrams, the country would save about $24 billion per year in healthcare costs.

Public health organizations like the American Heart Association and Center for Science in the Public Interest say that in order to protect consumers health, sodium consumption should be no higher than 1,500 milligrams per day. Please listen to scientists and lower the Dietary Guidelines' sodium recommendations from 2,300 milligrams to 1,500 milligrams per day.

[Your name]

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