# Strategies for Reducing Sodium Intake in Bakery Products, a Review
###### Abstract
In general salt is used as a food ingredient, as a preservative, to improve moisture retention and to increase food sensory characteristics. Although in some cases it is impossible to reduce the salt content from foods, in many others it is possible to obtain processed foods with lower sodium content. This is also the case for bakery products which are the largest contributor to dietary sodium intake in Great Britain and the USA [12]. Nowadays, almost every EU country has different strategies which includes recommendation for salt reduction via food reformulation to reduce the salt content from food products including bakery ones. For example, different programs are developed in EU such as \"STOP SALT\" in Hungary, \"Gaining health: making healthy choices easier\" in Italy which encourages in especially salt reduction in bread, in Bulgaria the National Food and Nutrition Action Plan 2012-2017 promotes salt reduction, etc. The bakery products reformulation strategies for salt reduction are continuing in EU countries, some examples in this regard being the following: in Austria the salt reduction has been established of 15% up to 2015 by the Federal Ministry for Health, in Italy of 10% up to 2012 by the Ministry of Health, in Spain of 20% up to 2014 by the Ministry of Health and Social Policy, in Hungary, the Hungarian Bakery Association recommended reducing salt in bread to reach, after December 2018, a maximum level of 2.35%, etc. [13]. Numerous strategies have been proposed to reduce sodium chloride in foodstuffs including bakery products, in order to improve the health of the population. The challenge of these strategies is to solve the technological and sensory problems caused by sodium chloride removal from bakery products recipe. From the technological point of view, a salt reduction up to 0.6% may conduct to bakery products without a significant negative effect on dough rheological properties. However, its effect on the sensory properties of bakery products may be a problem due to the fact that the salty taste is difficult to be achieved [1]. There are a number of combinations of substances proposed as salt substitutes, which will be discussed in a more detailed way in point 4 of this review, but they still may offer to the bakery products an unpleasant taste. Different combinations based on flavor enhancers, other type of salts, only partial substitution of sodium chloride from bakery recipe may offer some solutions for sodium chloride reduction. More, to reduce the negative effects of lack of salt on technological properties of bakery products it is recommended the use of another type of salt with similar effects on dough rheology as the one produced by sodium chloride. The proposed strategies for salt reduction are shown in Figure 1, methods that as we mentioned may be combined in order to increase bakery products flavor and salty taste. All these strategies along with sodium chloride effect on bread making, its physiological role on the human body and legislative norms regarding the international recommendation of daily sodium intake will be discussed further.