Sometimes I crave salt, as I imagine most people do. I don’t know whether the craving means my sodium level is down. Maybe it does. Salt (sodium) is one of the most important nutrients in your body. It maintains normal blood pressure, supports the work of nerves and muscles, and regulates your body's fluid balance. Your body strives to maintain a constant sodium level. If you have normal kidney function and blood pressure, your kidneys can deal with wide variations in sodium intake without increasing your blood pressure. To maintain the sodium level, if you drink too much, your body excretes the excess water it doesn’t need.
Most Americans eat between 3.0 and 4.4 grams of salt per day, with women consuming less and men consuming more. (A teaspoon contains six grams of salt.) According to the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, that’s too much. They recommend less than 2.3 grams a day, an amount that would supposedly lower blood pressure and, in turn, result in a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease. However, scientists reporting in the September 2021 issue of Nutrients found that current evidence indicates that “the risk of adverse health outcomes increases when sodium intake exceeds 5 g/day or is below 3 g/day [my italics].” In other words, the “sweet spot” for sodium intake is three to five grams a day, with “both lower and higher levels of intake associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease or death.” (The increased risk associated with five grams per day was largely confined to those with hypertension.) In studying populations worldwide, the scientists involved in this study found that, in fact, most people around the world consume this moderate range of salt (three to five grams a day)—a level “associated with the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality.”
You can ignore the Dietary Guidelines of 2.3 grams of salt per day. It’s not enough
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