Salt reduction strategies with health benefits: an updated review focused on food colloids.

Abstract

Sodium plays an important role in food processing and consumption, but a high-sodium diet increases health risks. Various salt reduction strategies have been developed to reduce 20-80% sodium content in foods without compromising food qualities. Considering the rapid advancements in salt reduction methods, a comprehensive review is timely to summarise the current state and suggest future research directions. In this review, we briefly introduce the saltiness perception mechanisms, and then systematically summarise the research progress of salt reducing strategies via adjusting the structure and composition of food colloids, applying processing techniques (e.g. ultrasonic treatment, microwave, pulsed electric field), and uneven distributing salt crystals. Special emphasis is given to the salt reduction mechanisms related to food colloids and to suggest future directions for progress. We found that enhancing saltiness perception via optimising food colloid structures is a promising strategy to reduce the salt in foods. Therefore, a precise design of food colloidal structure to enhance sodium release is needed. Modifying food colloids with flavour enhancers may further improve saltiness and facilitate sodium reduction. These strategies hold significant potential to improve public health by lowering sodium intake, thereby reducing hypertension and cardiovascular disease risks on a population scale.