Taxation of Salt and Foods High in Sodium

A new systematic review (1) looking at the effectiveness and feasibility of taxing salt and foods high in sodium was highlighted in Salt in the News (June 2020) from World Action on Salt & Health.

The systematic review included eighteen studies found between 2000 and 2019 (1). Fifteen of the studies reported on the effects of salt taxes: eight looked at taxing salt itself, foods high in salt and unhealthy foods (modelling studies, based on estimates of what the effects would be); four looked at the impact of salt taxation (real-world evaluation); two looked at price and subsides (experimental design/simulated online grocery stores); and one looked at cost-effectiveness of taxation (a review). Six of the 18 studies provided information relevant to country implementation of salt taxes and two of the 18 studies reported stakeholder perceptions toward salt taxation.

The authors found that the actual practice of salt taxation is limited (1). Three of the four real-world evaluation studies, mostly gray literature, did not report a measure of uncertainty (e.g. 95%CI or SE) and the two simulation studies showed wide confidence intervals, raising questions about the precision of the study results. Relying mostly on the modelling studies and noting that the studies varied in magnitude and range of measures (making them difficult to compare and summarize), the authors provided the following key summary points:

High salt diets (more than 5 g/day for adults (2)) are considered a leading dietary risk for death and disability globally (3). Continued research on population sodium reduction strategies (4) and other fiscal strategies, such as taxation, is needed to help reduce salt consumption.

See Additional Content: Cardiovascular Disease - Hypertension Knowledge Pathway

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