title: The flavor and acceptability of six different potassium-enriched (sodium reduced) iodized salts: a single-blind, randomized, crossover design.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hypertension is a serious public health problem. Potassium-enriched salt is suggested as a tool for lowering blood pressure. However, its flavor and taste acceptability is essential for population-based salt reduction strategy and needs to be well-understood. This trial assessed the flavor and taste acceptability of six different potassium-enriched iodized salts in the general population.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted this crossover trial from May to June 2016, enrolling 100 normal volunteer subjects aged 11 to 64 years. We compared regular sodium chloride salt (placebo) with six different potassium-enriched (sodium reduced) iodized salt (experiment), including 0 %, 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, 20 %, 25 %, and 30 %. The participants served as their own control and received a placebo and a sequence of the experiments. They tasted the two salts sequentially and stated their preference and acceptance. Each subject received all salts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than 80 % of participants who either did not distinguish between the two salts even in high potassium-enriched salts or preferred potassium-enriched salt (P< 0.001). The number of participants who preferred the flavor of potassium-enriched salt was greater than the number of subjects who preferred the flavor of regular sodium chloride.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicated that the six different potassium-enriched salts had a public acceptability of at least 80 % among normal subjects from the general population. Although the acceptability of the potassium-enriched salts by a more general population group would require to be confirmed, universal use of this salt may help us achieve the target of 30 % relative reduction in mean population intake of sodium by 2025.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Akram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maleki
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran ; Noncommunicable Diseases Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Soltanian
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zeraati
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Vida
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sheikh
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran ; Research Center for Health Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, 65157838695 Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: Jalal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Poorolajal
keywords: Blood pressure; Cross-over studies; Hypertension; Potassium chloride; Sodium chloride