How much sodium per day, by the evidence

1. 01

   The upper limit: 2,300 mg/day (one teaspoon of salt)

   The US Dietary Guidelines cap sodium at 2,300 mg/day for adults, the amount in about one teaspoon of table salt (USDA/HHS 2020-2025). Because salt is only ~40% sodium by weight, that teaspoon (~5.7 g of salt) equals ~2,300 mg of sodium, the source of most label confusion. This is a ceiling, not a goal; it applies to healthy adults, and children have lower limits scaled to age. It is also the value behind the 100% Daily Value figure on the Nutrition Facts panel.

2. 02

   The ideal target: about 1,500 mg/day

   The American Heart Association names 1,500 mg/day as the ideal for most adults, and especially for people with high blood pressure, Black adults, and those over 50, groups with higher salt sensitivity (Whelton et al. 2018). The lower figure reflects that blood-pressure benefits keep accruing below the 2,300 mg ceiling. For someone starting at the ~3,400 mg average, even reaching 2,300 mg captures most of the achievable benefit, so 1,500 mg is best treated as the direction of travel rather than a day-one requirement.

3. 03

   The average intake is ~3,400 mg, about 50% over

   US adults average roughly 3,400 mg of sodium per day, about 1,100 mg over the upper limit and more than double the AHA ideal (CDC; NHANES). The overshoot is nearly universal across age and sex, which is why sodium is one of the few nutrients where the population problem is excess rather than shortfall. The practical implication is that almost everyone benefits from cutting, and the highest-leverage cuts come from identifying the few high-sodium foods eaten most often rather than trimming everything.

4. 04

   Roughly 70% comes from packaged and restaurant food

   Only about 10% of dietary sodium is added during home cooking or at the table; roughly 70% is already in packaged and restaurant foods before you buy them (Harnack et al. 2017; CDC). This flips the usual advice: hiding the salt shaker does little, while swapping high-sodium staples does a lot. The top contributors are breads and rolls, cured and deli meats, pizza, soups, sandwiches, and sauces, ordinary foods that are not obviously salty, which is exactly why they slip past.

5. 05

   Read the label: mg per serving, and the %DV

   The Nutrition Facts panel lists sodium in milligrams per serving with a %DV based on the 2,300 mg limit, so a food showing 20% DV carries ~460 mg. The 5%-or-less rule flags a low-sodium choice; 20%-or-more flags a high one (FDA). Watch serving size, since a can of soup often lists two to three servings, multiplying the real total. Comparing the mg-per-serving line across two brands of the same product is the single fastest way to cut intake without changing what you eat.

6. 06

   Pair a sodium cut with more potassium

   Potassium blunts sodium's effect on blood pressure, and most adults fall short of the ~3,400 mg (men) / 2,600 mg (women) potassium target while overshooting sodium (IOM 2019). The DASH pattern works partly by raising potassium from fruit, vegetables, beans, and dairy at the same time as cutting sodium. Potassium-based salt substitutes (potassium chloride) can help two ways at once, but people with kidney disease or on certain blood-pressure medications should clear them with a clinician first.

7. 07

   Endurance athletes and heavy sweaters are the exception

   The cut-sodium advice targets the general population's blood-pressure risk. People losing large volumes of sweat, endurance athletes, outdoor laborers, and those in extreme heat, can lose 500-1,500 mg of sodium per liter of sweat and may need to replace rather than restrict it. This is the narrow case where added sodium is a performance and safety tool rather than a hazard; our electrolyte primer covers who actually falls into it, which is a much smaller group than the supplement marketing implies.

What people ask us next.

Q01

How much sodium should I eat per day?

Keep sodium under 2,300 mg/day, the amount in about one teaspoon of table salt (US Dietary Guidelines 2020-2025). The American Heart Association sets a tighter ideal of 1,500 mg/day for most adults, especially those with high blood pressure. The average US intake is ~3,400 mg, so nearly everyone is over the limit, and the realistic task for most people is getting down toward 2,300 mg rather than hitting 1,500 mg on day one.

Q02

How much salt is 2,300 mg of sodium?

About one teaspoon of table salt. Salt is sodium chloride and only ~40% sodium by weight, so ~5.7 g of salt (one level teaspoon) contains ~2,300 mg of sodium. This is the most common source of confusion, since labels list sodium in milligrams while recipes and salt shakers deal in salt. When a package reports 'salt' rather than 'sodium', multiply the sodium figure by about 2.5 to get the salt equivalent.

Q03

Is 3,000 mg of sodium a day too much?

It is above the 2,300 mg upper limit and roughly double the AHA's 1,500 mg ideal, so most guidance would consider it high, though it is close to the US average of ~3,400 mg. For a healthy person with normal blood pressure, 3,000 mg is not an emergency, but sustained intake at that level is linked to higher blood pressure over time. For anyone with hypertension or salt sensitivity, moving below 2,300 mg is the priority.

Q04

Where does most of the sodium in my diet come from?

Not the salt shaker. The CDC estimates only about 10% of dietary sodium is added during cooking or at the table, while roughly 70% is already in packaged and restaurant food (Harnack et al. 2017). The biggest contributors are breads and rolls, cured and deli meats, pizza, soups, sandwiches, and sauces, foods that often do not taste especially salty. Cutting or swapping the few high-sodium items you eat most often beats trying to under-salt home cooking.

Q05

Does cutting sodium actually lower blood pressure?

Yes, especially for salt-sensitive people. The DASH-Sodium trial found that reducing sodium from ~3,300 mg to ~1,500 mg lowered systolic blood pressure by about 7 mmHg in adults with hypertension and about 3 mmHg in those with normal pressure (Sacks et al. 2001). The effect is larger in older adults, Black adults, and people who already have high blood pressure. Pairing the sodium cut with more potassium from fruit and vegetables increases the effect.

Q06

Do I need to worry about too little sodium?

For most people, no; the population problem is excess. The exception is people losing large amounts of sweat, endurance athletes, outdoor workers, and those in extreme heat, who can lose 500-1,500 mg of sodium per liter of sweat and may need to replace it. Certain medical conditions and medications also affect sodium balance. Outside those cases, the ordinary diet supplies far more than enough sodium, which is why guidance focuses on cutting rather than adding.