Sodium

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Basics

• Summary
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• Latest News
• Diagnosis and Tests

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• Related Issues
• Specifics

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• Health Check Tools

Research

• Statistics and Research
• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

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• Patient Handouts

Summary

Table salt is made up of the elements sodium and chlorine - the technical name for salt is sodium chloride. Your body needs some sodium to work properly. It helps with the function of nerves and muscles. It also helps to keep the right balance of fluids in your body. Your kidneys control how much sodium is in your body. If you have too much and your kidneys can't get rid it, sodium builds up in your blood. This can lead to high blood pressure. High blood pressure can lead to other health problems.

Most people in the U.S. get more sodium in their diets than they need. A key to healthy eating is choosing foods low in salt and sodium. Doctors recommend you eat less than 2.4 grams per day. That equals about 1 teaspoon of table salt a day. Reading food labels can help you see how much sodium is in prepared foods.

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Start Here

• Lowering Salt in Your Diet (Food and Drug Administration)
• Sodium (Salt or Sodium Chloride) (American Heart Association) Also in Spanish
• Sodium and Food Sources (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Sodium in Your Diet: Using the Nutrition Facts Label to Reduce Your Intake (Food and Drug Administration) Also in Spanish
• Sodium: How to Tame Your Salt Habit (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Latest News

• Americans Buying Less Salt-Laden Foods (06/05/2017, HealthDay)
• Just 5 Percent of Daily Salt Gets Added At the Table (05/08/2017, HealthDay)
• The Saltiest Foods May Surprise You (03/30/2017, HealthDay)

Diagnosis and Tests

• Sodium Test (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)

Related Issues

• Can Processed Foods Be Part of a Healthy Diet? (American Heart Association)
• Central Pontine Myelinolysis (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)
• Decode the Sodium Label Lingo (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics)
• Salty Six (American Heart Association)
• Sea Salt vs. Table Salt: What's the Difference? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
• Shifting the Balance of Sodium and Potassium in Your Diet (Harvard School of Public Health)
• Water Softeners: How Much Sodium Do They Add? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Specifics

• Hyponatremia (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Health Check Tools

• Test Your Sodium Smarts (American Heart Association)

Statistics and Research

• CDC Vital Signs: Where's the Sodium? (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Dietary Sodium (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Hyponatremia (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Novel Paradigms of Salt and Hypertension.
• Article: Socioeconomic Determinants of Sodium Intake in Adult Populations of High-Income...
• Article: Urine 24-Hour Sodium Excretion Decreased between 1953 and 2014 in...
• Sodium -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
• Food and Drug Administration
• Food and Nutrition Information Center
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Children

• CDC Vital Signs: Reducing Sodium in Children's Diets (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish

Seniors

• Low Blood Sodium in Older Adults: A Concern? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Patient Handouts

• Cooking without salt (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Low sodium level (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Low-salt diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Sodium - blood (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Sodium in diet (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish