Should I worry about sodium?

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello Doctors! The idea that I may be eating too much sodium has been bothering me lately (I pour quite a bit of soy sauce on my food). I’ve seen some older posts of yours in which you recommend 3-6 g of sodium per day, but I haven’t seen you speak about this lately and I’m wondering if this recommendation still holds. I’ve seen that you generally agree with the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommend that Americans consume less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day as part of a healthy eating pattern. Since it has been reported that, on average, American adults eat 3,400 mg of sodium per day or more, should this be a cause of concern? Considering my waist circumference is in order, fiber, protein, fruit and vegetable intake are all taken care of, would it still be reasonable to track sodium intake or should I not worry about it?

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I appreciate your work tremendously.

2

The recommendation still stands unless someone has an adiposity related chronic disease such as high blood pressure.

That said, if you’re not eating too many calories and a bunch of processed foods- I’d bet your sodium levels are lower than you think.

3

The recommendation of 3,000-6,000mg of sodium per day seems drastically larger than the recommended 2,300mg recommended as per the dietary guidelines for americans; why is there such a large discrepancy between your recommendations and their recommendations? What evidence are they looking at versus the evidence you are looking at?

4

Have you looked at our content on this? I ask because this and a few of your other questions suggest that you could benefit from this.

The 3000-6000mg/day is the bottom of the U in the u -shaped curve correlating mortality with sodium intake across adults.