Sodium Reduction Training Resources

Training can help public health and health care professionals support efforts to reduce sodium intake.

Health professionals can access training materials to learn more about the public health impact of high sodium intake and design programs to reduce sodium in the food supply.

Sodium Reduction Toolkit

CDC's Sodium Reduction Toolkit: A Global Opportunity to Reduce Population-Level Sodium Intake provides international and national government agencies and public health organizations with a brief overview, tools, and information for developing and implementing sodium reduction programs, policies, and initiatives aimed at lowering sodium intake. The toolkit includes an introduction and 7 self-guided online modules. Available in English and Spanish.

Sodium and Hypertension Residency Training Module

CDC recently launched the Primary Care and Public Health Initiative to foster collaboration among clinicians and public health professionals. The purpose of the Initiative is to develop and deliver public health-focused educational resources for residency training programs and clinical educators through a teleconference and resource package. The most recent teleconference, "Hypertension Prevention, Treatment, Control and Sodium Reduction Policy" highlighted the impact of hypertension on population health, challenges in hypertension control, system-based initiatives to improve hypertension control, the connection between hypertension and sodium, and community and population based changes to promote prevention. The presentation may be accessed here: https://www.cdc.gov/ostlts/medicineandpublichealth/hypertension.html and additional resources, here: https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/materials_for_professionals.htm.

Webinars and Videos

Salt and Your State

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) hosted discussions on policy options for states and local governments to improve the nutritional content of foods, with a focus on reducing sodium.

• Identifying Opportunities and Resources to Promote Healthful Eating and Sodium Reduction (webinar aired on April 11, 2011)
• Using Purchasing Power to Improve Nutrition and Health (webinar aired on February 22, 2011)
• Salt and Your State, Strategies for Better Health Outcomes (webinar aired on December 23, 2010)

Getting to the Source: Establishing an Independent Restaurant’s Relationship with Food Vendors and Suppliers

This video captures presentations from CDC’s 2011 Sodium Reduction in Communities Program (SRCP) grantee meeting. Panelists describe strategies that state and local health departments should consider when working with restaurants, vendors, and suppliers to reduce sodium in different settings. The topics covered in this video include:

• Working with Requests for Proposals (RFPs), vendor and supplier contracts, and food specifications.
• Understanding the power of volume and group purchasing.
• Creating consumer demand/acceptance.

Million Hearts® for Millions of Meals: Reducing Sodium in Home Delivered and Congregate Meals

This webinar highlights the importance of sodium reduction in meals served to older adults, discusses meeting national recommendations for sodium intake in home delivered and congregate meals, and features a case study on successful implementation of sodium reduction strategies in the Meals on Wheels program. A discussion around working with food distributors on sodium reduction is also included.