Daily Salt intake

Does anyone know what the recommended daily salt intake should be?  I don't add extra, but was concerned about natural levels in foods.  I think I consumed around 2000+ mg's of salt today (2,616 to be exact). That seems rather high to me.

thanks for your input,

bob

Hi Bob,

 I might be wrong but the searching I did on sodium recently gave me a recommended daily sodium intake of 2000-2500mg per day. I don't know if there are different recommendations for dieters or such. I personally have issues with sodium so I try to keep mine near 1500 and I know people who suffer from high blood pressure are told to keep theirs lower also. I have quite a few diabetics in my family (both type1 and 2) and the nutritionists they go to recommend 2300mg a day. Hope that helps. Btw, there is a product out there in every store called No Salt that tastes just like salt so you can use it everywhere you would normally use salt, and it is sodium free.

Hey 73,

thanks for the tip.  I don't usually salt my food.  I had a huge craving for rice, but didn't realize the sodium content.  Today It'll be more raw veggies.

All the best to you,

Bob

From a medical perspective, 2 grams per day (2,000mg) is considered a low sodium diet.  Most heart/high blood pressure/renal patients are on a 1g or 2g diet.

I recently read that the average american takes in about 4g per day.  

Hope this helps.

The daily recommend for woman ages 25-50 is 2300mg or less.

I don't add salt to any of my foods but my sodium always comes out high. Usually in the low 3,000 range. I eat healthy but it seems like there is sodium in everything I eat. I have LOW blood pressure. Should I be concerned about my sodium?? I don't feel bloated usually and am very active.

don't know if this is related but have high BP and am salt sensitive.  Eating slightly more than normal and my rings get tight, etc.

I'm only on a mild BP pill.

My dr said no one should go over 2,400 and I read the same here.

500 mg is the minimum we all need as it helps something in our cells.

I usually stay at 1,000 mg daily.  I did that mostly by eliminating canned/processed foods.

Original Post by sherea:

The daily recommend for woman ages 25-50 is 2300mg or less.

I don't add salt to any of my foods but my sodium always comes out high. Usually in the low 3,000 range. I eat healthy but it seems like there is sodium in everything I eat. I have LOW blood pressure. Should I be concerned about my sodium?? I don't feel bloated usually and am very active.

 One of my housemates' mothers has low blood pressure, and she has to watch her sodium intake.  I'm definitely not an expert on this--you might want to talk to your doctor about it if you're concerned.

And just about sodium intake in general...it's definitely hard to keep it low.  I just started dieting about three weeks ago, and I still have all of this food in my house that I bought pre-diet with high sodium content (microwave popcorn, for instance).  I don't want to just throw it out.  I know I don't have to eat it all at once, too, so I save it for those days when my sodium intake is especially low.  I drink a ton of water daily (or at least I try to!), to try and keep hydrated and maybe flush out any of that excess salt, if possible.  But if I have one 3,000mg day every once in awhile, I try not to freak out.  I only freak when there's a couple of those days in a row. :)

I agree that it can be difficult to keep the sodium intake low, and it is really quite a problem considering that such a large proportion of people who are over 65 eventually end up on blood pressure medication.  The good news is that if you stick to whole, natural, unprocessed, unsalted foods you will not have a problem, and you don't ever have to worry about not getting enough sodium either.  This is because whole foods naturally contain some sodium.  On average it is something like 1/2 mg or less per calorie.  My rule of thumb is that if a food label shows more milligrams of sodium than calories, its a high sodium food, or one to which salt has been added.