Sodium - should I really care if I'm healthy?

Huppdiwupp

Having just joined MFP to count calories, I noticed that I've been above the recommended sodium level - and that's even without counting the salt I've used to season my salad or for cooking, as I only added the foods or ingredients that contain nutrients.

I'm not overweight, I'm very active, and I have low blood pressure (as do my mother and my sister). I drink a lot of water every day. I know that sodium is considered a health risk, since it causes hypertension, but I'm not aware of any other reasons. I don't question the efforts to reduce sodium intake in the population are useful, since many people suffer from hypertension. However, many people would also benefit from eating less, whereas for someone who's not overweight, eating is not a health risk.

What I would like to know is whether I should try to limit my sodium intake regardless, or whether I can safely go over the recommended level since I don't seem to have any of the risk factors that are commonly discussed. Is sodium more like food, harmful only for people who are overweight, or is it like smoking, with particularly bad effects for some people, but harmful effects for everyone?

Please note: I'm not looking for answers of the type "it can't hurt to limit your sodium intake" - I know that much, but since I like to season my foods to taste, my question is: could there any harm in not reducing it?

jgnatca

I say, don't worry about it. I only track my macros (fat, carbohydrate, and protein). If salt does become an issue of course you can start to pay attention.

belgerian

I am no expert but this is something best discussed with your medical adviser. Myself I have a history of hypertension family history of heart failure, diabetes ect ect. so I watch mine.

jacksonpt

In to hear other opinions, but my feeling has always been this.

If you are healthy...

AND

If you have a reasonably healthy, reasonably balanced diet...

THEN

you don't need to worry much about things like sodium and sugar in the bigger picture.



Now, if you're living on fast food and TV dinners, then that may change the conversation as your sodium intake wouldn't just be high, it would be off the charts high.

kyregi

I would say it also depends on how much you are over. I never had high blood pressure or any other issues. Suddenly a year ago I had a heart attack and now my doctor put me on a low sodium diet. So I am below the common MFP recommendation of 2300 at a goal of 1300mg a day. A lot of days I manage that, other days not. I rarely go over the 2300mg per day. But, looking at my food now and what I ate before, my guess is that I might have been easily at 4000-5000mg or more a day. I just looked once more at restaurant menus, because I want to meet a friend for lunch and saw meals I would have eaten without hesitation two years ago had more than 3500mg of sodium just by itself. Add to that 2 more meals a day (without looking at sodium) plus chips for snack or cheese and crackers, I was easily at 5000mg. Looking back at that, maybe I should have tried to cut back a bit earlier in my life. I am not sure which influence that had to my heart issues, but I clearly absolutely avoid going back to the amounts I had before just because it might have been an issue.

So, in the end, as you are healthy and have no blood pressure problems, I would not fret about it. Maybe just try to see if you might be overboard on the salt as I obviously was and, if that is the case, maybe try to ease down a bit. So, if you are around 3000mg a day, I would not worry a bit. If you are regularly at 5000-6000mg a day, you might consider some changes. As with everything, in moderation it should be ok.

MoiAussi93

I have read a lot of conflicting information on this. There are some people (including some prominent medical organizations who are considering lowering recommendations) who say 2300 is too high and most people should aim for 1500. However, others say that for most people who are healthy, even significantly high levels cause no harm. It seems to affect certain people and not others. If your typical sodium intake is significantly above the 2300 level, it is probably worth your time to spend a few hours reading some of the research yourself so you can decide what seems most credible and compare your personal risk factors to those mentioned in the various studies.