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Purpose and Objectives: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Sodium Reduction in Communities Program aims to reduce dietary sodium intake through policy, systems, and environmental approaches. The objective of our study was to evaluate changes in sodium levels over 5 years (2016-2021) in food served in school lunches as an outcome of a Sodium Reduction in Communities program in Arkansas's largest school district., Intervention Approach: We collaborated with Springdale Public Schools (SPS) to reduce dietary sodium intake in school lunches through increased implementation of 1) food service guidelines, 2) procurement practices, 3) food preparation practices, and 4) environmental strategies. These activities were maintained from year 1 through year 5. Implementation priorities were informed each year by evaluation findings from the preceding year., Evaluation Methods: We collected lunch service records and information on nutritional content of menu items for the 30 schools under the direction of SPS's Child Nutrition Department. We used a pretest-posttest quantitative evaluation design to analyze annual changes in the sodium content of meals, from baseline through year 5., Results: From baseline through year 1, SPS reduced sodium served per diner, per entrée offered, and per entrée served. These reductions were maintained from baseline through 5 years of follow-up. Mean sodium per 1,000 kcal per diner served was 1,740 mg at baseline and was lower in each of the 5 follow-up years: 1,488 mg (14% decrease) in year 1; 1,495 mg (14% decrease) in year 2; 1,612 mg (7% decrease) in year 3; 1,560 mg (10% decrease) in year 4; and 1,532 mg (12% decrease) in year 5. Energy served per diner remained stable., Implications for Public Health: Our study provides evidence for sustained sodium reduction strategies in a large ethnically and socioeconomically diverse school district, pointing to the potential benefit of implementing similar strategies in other school districts. The study also shows how program evaluation can be used to support sustainability.

The Sodium Reduction in Communities Program (SRCP) aims to reduce dietary sodium intake through policy, systems, and environmental approaches. We evaluated progress of 3 years of SRCP activities in 3 community meals programs in northwest Arkansas. These activities sought to reduce dietary sodium intake through implementation of 1) food service guidelines, 2) procurement practices, 3) food preparation practices, and 4) environmental strategies. Mean reductions of 579 mg (-40%) in sodium served per diner and 525 mg (-22%) in sodium per 1,000 kcal served per diner were found from baseline to Year 1. Mean reductions of 499 mg (-35%) in sodium served per diner and 372 mg (-16%) in sodium per 1,000 kcal served per diner were sustained from baseline to Year 3. These results highlight the effectiveness and sustainability of sodium reduction interventions in community meals programs, whose diners experience food insecurity, have low incomes, and are at high risk for hypertension.

Purpose and Objectives: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Sodium Reduction in Communities Program (SRCP) aims to reduce dietary sodium intake through policy, systems, and environmental approaches. The objective of this study was to evaluate and document the progress of the first year of a 5-year SRCP project in northwest Arkansas., Intervention Approach: In collaboration with 30 partner schools and 5 partner community meals programs, we sought to reduce dietary sodium intake through increased implementation of 1) food service guidelines, 2) procurement practices, 3) food preparation practices, and 4) environmental strategies., Evaluation Methods: We collected daily menus, information on nutritional content of meals, and procurement records and counted the number of people served in partnering schools and community meals programs. We used a pretest-posttest quantitative evaluation design to analyze changes in the sodium content of meals from baseline to Year 1 follow-up., Results: From baseline to Year 1 follow-up, participating schools lowered the mean sodium content served per lunch diner from 1,103 mg to 980 mg (-11.2%). The schools also reduced the mean sodium content of entrées offered (ie, entrées listed on the menu) from 674 mg to 625 mg (-7.3%) and entrées served from 615 mg to 589 mg (-4.2%). From baseline to follow-up, participating community meals programs reduced the mean sodium content of meals offered (ie, meals listed on the menu) from 1,710 mg to 1,053 mg (-38.4%). The community meals programs reduced the mean sodium content of meals served from 1,509 mg to 1,258 mg (-16.6%)., Implications for Public Health: In both venues, our evaluation findings showed reductions in sodium served during the 1-year evaluation period. These results highlight the potential effectiveness of sodium reduction interventions focused on food service guidelines, procurement practices, food preparation practices, and environmental strategies for schools and community meals programs.