{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T11:19:38Z","timestamp":1785410378703,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775779200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005297","name":"Medical University in Bialystok","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["B.SUB.25.118"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["B.SUB.25.118"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005297","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["B.SUB.25.118"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["B.SUB.25.118"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00y4ya841","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Excessive sodium (primarily from sodium chloride, NaCl) intake remains one of the leading dietary risk factors associated with hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic health conditions worldwide. Commercial diet catering services providing ready-to-eat daily meal plans have become increasingly popular and are often perceived as nutritionally balanced; however, analytical evidence regarding their actual salt content remains limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the NaCl content of daily food rations (DFRs) offered by commercial diet catering services in Poland. Methods: A total of 120 DFRs representing three dietary patterns (Hashimoto diet, DASH diet, and low-carbohydrate diet) were collected from 40 catering providers. Sodium chloride content was determined using the Mohr titration method. Sodium intake values were estimated by conversion from NaCl equivalents to allow comparison with dietary recommendations. Results: The median NaCl content across all analyzed diets was 14.19 g\/day (Q1: 10.62 g; Q3: 17.49 g), corresponding to approximately 284% of the World Health Organization recommended maximum intake of 5 g\/day of salt. Nearly half of the analyzed DFRs (45.83%) exceeded the recommended intake by more than threefold. Overall, 99.2% of the analyzed DFRs exceeded recommended NaCl intake levels, while 91.9% did not comply with the values declared by manufacturers. DFRs consisting of five meals contained higher NaCl levels than three-meal plans (p &lt; 0.0196); however, this difference may be related to variation in total food mass rather than meal frequency, as the number of meals was confounded with diet type. Conclusions: These findings suggest that commercially prepared diet catering meals may represent a substantial source of dietary NaCl when used as a primary daily food source. Improved nutritional monitoring, clearer nutrient reporting, and quality control of commercially prepared dietary plans may support public health strategies aimed at reducing NaCl intake.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu18081202","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T13:58:22Z","timestamp":1775829502000},"page":"1202","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Excessive Sodium Intake in Commercial Diet Catering Meal Plans in Poland: Implications for Diet Quality and Chronic Disease Risk"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-5406-8907","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dominika Patrycja","family":"Dobiecka","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bromatology, Faculty of Pharmacy with the Division of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Bia\u0142ystok, 15-222 Bia\u0142ystok, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karolina","family":"Korzonek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bromatology, Faculty of Pharmacy with the Division of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Bia\u0142ystok, 15-222 Bia\u0142ystok, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7421-5301","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Martyna","family":"Falkowska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bromatology, Faculty of Pharmacy with the Division of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Bia\u0142ystok, 15-222 Bia\u0142ystok, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kinga","family":"Wity\u0144ska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bromatology, Faculty of Pharmacy with the Division of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Bia\u0142ystok, 15-222 Bia\u0142ystok, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2925-9916","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Justyna","family":"Moskwa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bromatology, Faculty of Pharmacy with the Division of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Bia\u0142ystok, 15-222 Bia\u0142ystok, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5949-7061","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Katarzyna","family":"Socha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bromatology, Faculty of Pharmacy with the Division of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Bia\u0142ystok, 15-222 Bia\u0142ystok, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3340-6739","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sylwia Katarzyna","family":"Naliwajko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bromatology, Faculty of Pharmacy with the Division of Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Bia\u0142ystok, 15-222 Bia\u0142ystok, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2025, February 10). Salt Reduction. Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/fact-sheets\/detail\/salt-reduction."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2023). WHO Global Report on Sodium Intake Reduction 2023, WHO. Available online: https:\/\/iris.who.int\/server\/api\/core\/bitstreams\/296605a9-820a-41bc-8f28-bf4b1367d530\/content."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Malczyk, E., Muc-Wierzgo\u0144, M., Fatyga, E., and Dzi\u0119gielewska-G\u0119siak, S. (2024). Salt intake of children and adolescents: Influence of socio-environmental factors and school education. Nutrients, 16.","DOI":"10.20944\/preprints202401.1685.v1"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.1111\/jch.14599","article-title":"High sodium diet intake and cardiovascular diseases: An attributable death study in Tianjin, China","volume":"25","author":"Xue","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Clin. Hypertens."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.12688\/hrbopenres.13210.2","article-title":"Clarifying optimal sodium intake in cardiovascular and kidney (COSTICK) diseases: A study protocol for two randomised controlled trials","volume":"4","author":"Smyth","year":"2022","journal-title":"HRB Open Res."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"725","DOI":"10.1001\/jamadermatol.2024.1544","article-title":"Sodium intake and atopic dermatitis","volume":"160","author":"Chiang","year":"2024","journal-title":"JAMA Dermatol."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"537","article-title":"Effect of sodium reduction based on the DASH diet on blood pressure in hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes","volume":"39","author":"Mu","year":"2022","journal-title":"Nutr. Hosp."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14594","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-022-18830-4","article-title":"The association between dietary sodium intake and osteoporosis","volume":"12","author":"Hong","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"779","article-title":"Salt intake and gastric cancer: A pooled analysis within the Stomach Cancer Pooling (StoP) Project","volume":"33","author":"Morais","year":"2022","journal-title":"Cancer Causes Control"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tian, Y., Lin, C., Zhong, H., Wu, C., Wu, Y., Chen, B., Zhang, X., Bai, X., Yang, Y., and Wang, Y. (2025). Associations and mediators of estimated sodium intake with cardiovascular mortality: Data based on a national population cohort. BMC Med., 23.","DOI":"10.1186\/s12916-025-04206-8"},{"key":"ref_11","first-page":"5861","article-title":"Impact of sodium intake on blood pressure, mortality and major cardiovascular events: An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses","volume":"64","author":"Yang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2016). SHAKE the Salt Habit: The SHAKE Technical Package for Salt Reduction, WHO. Available online: https:\/\/iris.who.int\/bitstream\/handle\/10665\/250134\/WHO-NMH-PND-16.4-eng.pdf."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1206","DOI":"10.1017\/S1368980014001736","article-title":"Sodium content and labelling of processed and ultra-processed food products marketed in Brazil","volume":"18","author":"Martins","year":"2015","journal-title":"Public Health Nutr."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Martini, D., Strazzullo, P., Serafini, M., Porrini, M., Pellegrini, N., and Angelino, D. (2022). Sodium content in cereal-based products sold in Italy: How far are we from the global benchmarks?. Nutrients, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/nu14153088"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hao, Z., Liang, L., Pu, D., and Zhang, Y. (2022). Analysis of sodium content in 4082 kinds of commercial foods in China. Nutrients, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/nu14142908"},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"PMR Market Experts (2024). Dietary Catering Market in Poland 2024, PMR Market Experts. PMR Report."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3932","DOI":"10.1002\/fsn3.2387","article-title":"The association between dietary approaches to stop hypertension diet and Mediterranean diet with metabolic syndrome in Iranian adults","volume":"9","author":"Mirzaei","year":"2021","journal-title":"Food Sci. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"405","DOI":"10.21037\/atm.2017.08.06","article-title":"Reduction in dietary sodium improves blood pressure and reduces cardiovascular events and mortality","volume":"5","author":"Aronow","year":"2017","journal-title":"Ann. Transl. Med."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1150","DOI":"10.1093\/advances\/nmaa041","article-title":"DASH diet and blood pressure reduction in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials","volume":"11","author":"Filippou","year":"2020","journal-title":"Adv. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10","DOI":"10.1016\/j.amjcard.2022.10.019","article-title":"Effects of diet on 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk (from the DASH trial)","volume":"187","author":"Jeong","year":"2023","journal-title":"Am. J. Cardiol."},{"key":"ref_21","first-page":"1","article-title":"Effects of the DASH diet on blood pressure, overweight and obesity in adolescents: A systematic review","volume":"28","author":"Poltronieri","year":"2018","journal-title":"Clin. Nutr. ESPEN"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chiavaroli, L., Viguiliouk, E., Nishi, S.K., Mejia, S.B., Raheli\u0107, D., Kahleova, H., Salas-Salvad\u00f3, J., Kendall, C.W.C., and Sievenpiper, J.L. (2019). DASH dietary pattern and cardiometabolic outcomes: An umbrella review. Nutrients, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/nu11020338"},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"Healthline (2025, March 31). Best Low-Sodium Meal Delivery Services. Available online: https:\/\/www.healthline.com\/nutrition\/low-sodium-meal-delivery#our-picks."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Bankier.pl (2025). Box Diets Growing in Popularity\u2014Clients Increasingly Include Individuals with Chronic Diseases, Bankier.pl."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"Chief Sanitary Inspectorate, Ministry of Health (2003). Guidelines for GHP, GMP and HACCP in Mass Catering Establishments, Government of Poland. Current Edition."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"European Parliament and Council (2011). Regulation (EU) No 1169\/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers. Off. J. Eur. Union, L304, 18\u201363."},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"123","article-title":"Can you trust a box diet?","volume":"1","author":"Orkusz","year":"2022","journal-title":"Eng. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"329","DOI":"10.18596\/jotcsa.496563","article-title":"Validation of Mohr\u2019s titration method to determine salt in olive and olive brine","volume":"6","author":"Sezey","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Turk. Chem. Soc. Sect. A Chem."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1721","DOI":"10.1007\/s00216-015-9273-2","article-title":"Mohr\u2019s method challenge","volume":"408","author":"Meija","year":"2016","journal-title":"Anal. Bioanal. Chem."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"133","DOI":"10.1007\/s11906-022-01182-9","article-title":"Sodium intake and risk of hypertension: A systematic review and dose\u2013response meta-analysis","volume":"24","author":"Filippini","year":"2022","journal-title":"Curr. Hypertens. Rep."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1092","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clnu.2018.05.017","article-title":"Dietary sodium, sodium-to-potassium ratio and risk of stroke","volume":"38","author":"Jayedi","year":"2019","journal-title":"Clin. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"21501319241297766","DOI":"10.1177\/21501319241297766","article-title":"Effect of a low-salt diet on the progression of chronic kidney disease","volume":"15","author":"Trakarnvanich","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Prim. Care Community Health"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1186\/s12576-023-00889-x","article-title":"Physiological roles of chloride ions in bodily and cellular functions","volume":"73","author":"Marunaka","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Physiol. Sci."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gibson, A.A., and Partridge, S.R. (2019). Nutritional qualities of commercial meal kit subscription services in Australia. Nutrients, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/nu11112679"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1284","DOI":"10.1017\/S1368980023000265","article-title":"What\u2019s in a commercial meal kit?","volume":"26","author":"McKay","year":"2023","journal-title":"Public Health Nutr."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"228","DOI":"10.1111\/1747-0080.12845","article-title":"Could commercial meal kits be part of the solution to food insecurity during pregnancy?","volume":"81","author":"McKay","year":"2024","journal-title":"Nutr. Diet."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"660","DOI":"10.1093\/heapro\/daaa095","article-title":"Are meal kits health promoting?","volume":"36","author":"Moores","year":"2021","journal-title":"Health Promot. Int."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100876","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijgfs.2024.100876","article-title":"A comparison of the nutritional quality of ready-to-cook meals and conventional home-cooked meals in Korea","volume":"35","author":"Choi","year":"2024","journal-title":"Int. J. Gastron. Food Sci."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"112538","DOI":"10.1016\/j.nut.2024.112538","article-title":"Meal kit delivery services in the UK: An evaluation of the nutritional composition of meals","volume":"128","author":"Nixon","year":"2024","journal-title":"Nutrition"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hollis-Hansen, K., Haskins, C., Turcios, J., Bowen, M.E., Leonard, T., Lee, M., Albin, J., Wadkins-Chambers, B., Thompson, C., and Hall, T. (2023). A pilot randomized controlled trial comparing nutritious meal kits and no-prep meals to improve food security and diet quality. BMC Public Health, 23.","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-023-17355-3"},{"key":"ref_41","unstructured":"Szostak-W\u0119gierek, D. (2020). Implementation of Comprehensive Epidemiological Studies on the Dietary Patterns and Nutritional Status of the Polish Population, National Food and Nutrition Institute. (In Polish)."},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"Szamotulska, K., Mierzejewska, E., Maciejewski, T., Jurczak-Czaplicka, M., Fija\u0142kowska, A., Na\u0142\u0119cz, H., \u015awi\u0105tkowska, D., Szulc, J., Czach, A., and Honorato-Rzeszewicz, T. (2020). Implementation of Comprehensive Epidemiological Studies on the Dietary Patterns and Nutritional Status of Pregnant Women, Institute of Mother and Child. (In Polish)."}],"container-title":["Nutrients"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-6643\/18\/8\/1202\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T13:59:29Z","timestamp":1775829569000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-6643\/18\/8\/1202"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"8","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4]]}},"alternative-id":["nu18081202"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/nu18081202","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-6643"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-6643","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]]}}}