Some food products giving the boot to excess salt

— -- Even as artery-clogging trans fats continue their fast fade from the nation's food supply, there are early signs that 2009's nutrition "bad guy" will be salt.

Salt is being siphoned from soups, banished from breads, channeled out of chips, even bumped from baby foods.

Some 663 products claiming "reduced sodium" were introduced in 2007, vs. 449 in 2006. Through the first nine months of this year, 402 were introduced, says Tom Vierhile, director of Datamonitor's Productscan Online, which tracks new products.

"A little less salt makes consumers think they're doing the right thing," Vierhile says.

But that's not all that's driving salt reduction. Aging Boomers are in search of low-salt foods. Parents are demanding less salt in kids' diets. And one food activist group is calling for the government to order salt reduction in foods by up to 50%.

"High sodium content is the single greatest problem in the American diet," says Michael Jacobson, executive director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "It's welcome that some companies are lowering sodium, but what's really needed is a government initiative."

Some 150,000 lives could be saved annually if Americans cut sodium intake in half, according to a National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute study. The average daily sodium intake now is 4,000 milligrams — roughly twice the government's recommended amount for most people.

For three years, the Center for Science has been pushing the Food and Drug Administration to set limits on salts in food. In September, Dr. Thomas Frieden, New York City's activist health chief, indicated that after getting trans fats and calories reduced in many foods sold citywide, salt may be next on his hit list.

It's no surprise foodmakers are serious about squeezing sodium. But unlike sugar, which has many substitutes, cutting sodium is not simple. "It's a traditional ingredient with no easy replacement," Jacobson notes.