 How
Much Sodium Do We Really Need?
Our bodies do need some sodium to function. The average American
consumes 4,000 to 7,000 milligrams of sodium per day. The
average cardiologist and dietician recommend 2,000 to 4,000
milligrams of sodium per day for people with high blood pressure.
Both of these amounts are far more than is necessary for
our bodies. In fact, the National Research Council’s
latest edition of the Recommended Dietary Allowances stated
that 115 milligrams of sodium per day is a minimum average
requirement for adults. Because of the wide variation of
patterns of physical activity and climatic exposure, we at
the Rice Diet Program counsel patients that they can go a
bit higher than that, but should consume no more than 500
milligrams per day.
The bottom line is: the lower your sodium intake, the
lower your blood pressure and the lower your risk of congestive
heart failure, heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease.
It is difficult to justify adding salt to food once you
realize salt’s correlation not only to hypertension,
but also to kidney and heart disease, diabetes, congestive
heart failure, obesity, and osteoporosis. But, the good
news is that salt is an acquired taste. Most of us were
trained from infancy to like it, but we can retrain our
taste buds to prefer foods without salt – it takes
approximately two months – and teach the next generation
about the preventative benefits of a salt-free lifestyle.
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