"Don't Eat Salty" is one of the most common advice given when it comes to health. Is there any truth behind this and how much salt we should actually eat? Read the article and find out.
What are the official salt intake recommendations?
Salt is the chemical composition of sodium chloride (NaCl). This means that when we talk about salt intake, we are actually talking about sodium and chlorine intake. Of these two elements, what is really being discussed is sodium intake.
The recommended daily intake, ie RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) for sodium is 1500 mg. The tolerable upper intake level, i.e. UL (Tolerable Upper Intake Level) is 2300 mg sodium. So in short, the recommended amount of sodium per day is 1500 to 2300 mg. This corresponds to the intake of 6 grams of salt (sodium chloride), ie one teaspoon of table salt per day.
The average sodium intake in normal populations is about twice the recommended 1500-2300 mg and is 2700-4900 mg.
Salt intake and high blood pressure
The main reason why it is recommended to reduce your intake is to control your blood pressure. Chronically elevated blood pressure is a risk factor for heart and blood vessel disease, which is one of the most common causes of death in developed countries.
High salt intake really results in high blood pressure ... in some people. Not all people respond equally to salt intake. In some people, changes in salt intake result in significant changes in blood pressure, and in some people the change is negligible.
For this reason, the concept of salt sensitivity is introduced. Because salt intake does not have an equal impact on all people, there are divided opinions about how much salt should be ingested. On the one hand, we have the low recommendations we mentioned in the previous section, and now let's see what we have on the other.
What does the other side say?
Sodium is essential for the normal functioning of the body. Our body needs it to survive, and not only can it synthesize it, but we need to enter it through food. This is precisely the definition of an essential nutrient.
O'Donnell and colleagues (2011) did a study in which 28,880 subjects were divided into groups depending on how much sodium they intake per day: less than 3 grams, 4-6 grams, more than 7 grams. They monitored these cohorts in the following years and analyzed how many respondents from which group had contracted and died of cardiovascular disease. They concluded that the best health group had 4-6 grams of sodium. Groups ingesting more than 7 grams or less than 3 grams were at increased risk. They also concluded that people who consumed more potassium had a lower risk of stroke, but we will talk more about potassium below.
Graudal et al. (2014) performed a meta-analysis on this topic that included 25 studies and 274 683 respondents. In the analysis, they also divided the respondents into three main groups: low intake (less than 2645 mg sodium), normal intake (2645-4945 mg) and high intake (more than 4945 mg sodium). Based on the data, they concluded that both high and low sodium intakes were associated with higher rates of cardiovascular disease and overall death rates compared to normal intakes.
Another review paper is brought to us by Mente et al. (2016) in which they analyzed data from four studies and 133 118 subjects. About half of the subjects had high blood pressure and the other half had normal blood pressure. Their low sodium intake was less than 3 grams per day, moderate intake was 4-5 grams, and high intake was 7+ grams per day. Compared to moderate intake, high sodium intake increased the risk in people with high blood pressure but not in people with normal pressure. Low salt intake, on the other hand, increased the risk in both normal and high pressure individuals. The authors conclude that salt intake should only be reduced by people with high blood pressure who otherwise consume a lot of salt.
The last study we will look at here was published half a year ago by O'Donnell et al. (2019.) In line with the studies we have conducted so far, this study has shown that moderate intake of salt (3-5 grams per day) is best for health high potassium intake.
Don't forget about potassium!
As mentioned in a couple of previous studies, sufficient potassium intake is extremely important in this story. Perez et al. (2014) conclude in their literature review that the sodium to potassium ratio is much more important than separate sodium intake or separate potassium intake.
The average population does not consume nearly enough potassium in their diet, and that is a big part of the problem. In particular, the recommended intake is 4700 mg of potassium, and the average person intakes about 3100 mg. That's barely two-thirds. This is not surprising since we know that most people do not eat enough vegetables and fruits.
Great sources of potassium are, for example, bananas, broccoli, potatoes, spinach, most types of beans, etc. As I emphasize in many articles, you should eat more vegetables, and here's another reason.
Salt intake for athletes
One group that needs to be singled out is athletes. You probably all noticed that the sweat is salty, so it's no surprise that this is another way we lose sodium. Persons who sweat a lot should take care to bring in enough salt, especially in the summer.
Conclusion
The phobia of salt in today's society is overblown. The average population is free to continue taking salt as it has been without worry.
Some people are really sensitive to salt intake and these people need to be careful. If you have high blood pressure and are ingesting a lot of salt, it may be advisable to reduce your intake.
Another very important thing - increase your potassium intake. This is most easily achieved by increasing the intake of vegetables and fruits.
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