ReviewEnvironmental chemistry letters2021
Locked on salt? Excessive consumption of high-sodium foods during COVID-19 presents an underappreciated public health risk: a review.
Review in Environmental chemistry letters, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Persistent effect of salt reduction in schoolchildren and their families: 1-year follow-up after an application-based cluster randomized controlled trial.BMC medicine · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Comparing Sodium Redistribution, Cooking Performance, Texture, and Sensory Properties of Guar Gum and Semperfresh Salt-Coated Noodles.ACS omega · 2026Article
- A nutritionally balanced menu for emergencies: beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Perceptions Regarding Healthy Eating Based on Concept Mapping.Nutrients · 2025Article
- A study on the consumer behavior and attitude toward low-sodium convenience store foods.Nutrition research and practice · 2024Article
- Habitual salt preference worsens blood pressure in hospitalized hypertensive patients with omicron infection under epidemic-related stress.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Association of major dietary patterns with socioeconomic status, obesity, and contracting COVID-19 among Iranian adults.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the dietary intake of individuals living with and beyond breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer and who were most likely to experience change?Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2023Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CVD prevention between different socioeconomic groups in Switzerland.Open heart · 2023Article
- Comparison of participant and non-participant perceptions on healthy restaurant for sodium reduction: a qualitative study.Nutrition research and practice · 2023Article
- Initiatives to Reduce the Content of Sodium in Food Products and Meals and Improve the Population's Health.Nutrients · 2023Review
- Impact of public restrictive measures on hypertension during the COVID-19 pandemic: existing evidence and long-term implications.Clinical kidney journal · 2023Review
- Association Between Dietary Behaviors and Weight Gain During City-Wide Quarantine.International journal of general medicine · 2023Article
- Effects of COVID-19 on sensory and cognitive perception of mild and severe diagnosed and recovered patients versus healthy consumers.Journal of sensory studies · 2022Article
- Development of a short-form Chinese health literacy scale for low salt consumption (CHLSalt-22) and its validation among hypertensive patients.BMC nutrition · 2022Article
- Article
- A qualitative exploration of weight management during COVID-19.Clinical obesity · 2022Article
- Sodium chloride replacement by potassium chloride in bread: Determination of sensorial potassium threshold and effect on dough properties and breadmaking quality.International journal of gastronomy and food science · 2022Article
- Convenience Food Options and Adequacy of Nutrient Intake among School Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Nutrients · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Abrupt changes in food preferences and eating habits have induced an overlooked health risk during the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19). Indeed, emerging evidence points to a major shift to consumption of high-sodium foods during the pandemic lockdowns in the population from different countries and cultures. High-sodium foods have sodium contents exceeding 500 mg per 100 g, and many processed and preserved foods fall into this category. Excessive dietary sodium intake is associated with chronic diseases including hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and kidney diseases, and thus poses confounding risks during the pandemic. Here, we review food categories in consumers' shopping lists and food parcels delivered to people who needed assistance during the pandemic, when frozen meals, canned foods, instant foods, snacks, and other high-sodium foods gained substantial popularity. Such change in consumers' behavior is driven by several factors: the perceived risk of viral infection in grocery shopping trips, limited supplies and inflated prices of fresh produce, preference on foods with long shelf lives, and emotional eating. Moreover, the general low awareness of sodium contents in food has contributed to the increased consumption of high-sodium foods during the pandemic. We also discuss the possible effects on COVID-19 infection and severity caused by excessive sodium intake. We conclude that the public should be educated to maintain a healthy sodium intake during the pandemic, and measures should be adopted by governments and private donors in procuring food parcels with more balanced sodium contents to lower the risks of prolonged and excessive sodium intakes in the vulnerable population.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.