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Search High blood pressure affects more than 1.4 billion people worldwide and remains the leading preventable cause of death globally. Excess dietary sodium is the single most important dietary driver of raised blood pressure yet progress on salt reduction has stalled.
In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been clear: tackling hypertension now requires population-wide interventions that work with everyday behaviour.
In 2025, WHO issued new guidance on lower-sodium salt substitutes. Its message is simple and practical: when consumers use table salt, they should switch from regular salt to a potassium-enriched, lower-sodium alternative. This is groundbreaking as it reframes salt reduction away from reformulation alone and squarely towards what people buy and use at home. The intervention is deliberately simple: no new behaviour, no technical knowledge, just a straightforward swap of one familiar product for another.
Why retail matters
If the intervention is consumer-led, the lever is retail.
Today, reduced-sodium salts are often present on shelf, but they are rarely prominent. In many markets, they sit alongside multiple facings of standard table salt, framed as a niche or specialist alternative rather than the healthier default.
Retailers are uniquely positioned to change this. By rebalancing the salt set, increasing the visibility of lower-sodium options and reducing the dominance of standard table salt, retailers can make the healthier choice easier without disrupting how people shop.
This is precisely what WHO means by a population-level intervention.
A proven model for change
We have seen this approach succeed before. In the 1990s, WHO, UNICEF and partners transformed global nutrition through universal salt iodisation. By changing the default form of an everyday ingredient, iodine deficiency was rapidly reduced worldwide.
Today, the same ingredient offers a new opportunity, not for deficiency prevention but for cardiovascular health. The evidence for salt substitution is strong, and global momentum is building through national programmes, updated clinical guidelines and major new research initiatives.
The lesson from iodisation is clear: when healthier salt becomes the norm, population health follows.
The role of The Consumer Goods Forum
The Consumer Goods Forum is uniquely positioned to turn this evidence into action. Within the Healthier Lives Coalition, this aligns directly with the Dietary Shifts workstream: making healthier choices more visible, more available and more desirable. Resetting the salt shelf is a tangible, measurable way to do exactly that.
Importantly, this is a low-risk intervention. Reduced-sodium salts look, taste and function like regular salt, are already accepted by consumers, and are stocked by major retailers globally. This is about switching regular table salt, not disrupting premium or culinary categories.
From retail normalisation to wider system change
Once consumer use of lower-sodium salt is normalised, the effects extend beyond the home. Increased consumer demand creates the conditions for broader uptake in food service, public procurement and, ultimately, manufacturing reformulation.
In this sense, retail acts as the catalyst. Manufacturers follow where consumer norms lead.
The CGF members interested in learning more are encouraged to connect with the Healthier Lives Coalition.
