Question on healthy daily sodium intake

philsox11

First time to join and post.

Question. What is the healthy daily intake of sodium for a 51-year-old adult male, 6 foot 1 inches, 194 pounds?

I'm fairly active, run/walk an hour almost daily (jogging from 3 to 4 miles of 5 each day I exercise). My goal is to drop 4 more pounds at least by Saturday, 2 April, for a fitness test.

Any advice is welcomed.

Philsox11

hpsnickers1

Unless you have high blood pressure issues your max would be 2500mg. That is the max number for everyone.

HBP issues: less than 1500mg

We need at least 500mg for the body to function right.

If you workout a lot and do a lot of sweating then you can get away with more than 2500mg and still be ok. But I figure sweating can remove that amount between 500 and 2500.

Mindful_Trent

Recent guidelines suggest no more than 1500 mg/day for quite a few people: African Americans, people over 50, people with high blood pressure or chronic kidney problems... possibly some other conditions, too. 2300 mg/day for everyone else.

Bascially - the lower you can get, the better off your body will be. You only need about 500mg/day for proper body functioning, anything over than is optional.

Mindful_Trent

The Lowdown on Sodium: http://thedailynewsonline.com/lifestyles/article_1de1c6a9-4c65-5cfe-b0d6-5c5d25fa65c4.html

recipe4success

actually that is incorrect. recent guidelines suggest that we should be aiming for around 2300 mg/day, whereas previously it was thought that an additional salt restriction would be beneficial. Salt/sodium does play important roles in our body, although the typical diet of North Americans is higher in salt due to intake of processed foods etc...thus the feeling that we need to restrict it.

Mindful_Trent

Here's a quote directly from the new USDA guidlines, for anyone who is interested:

Reduce daily sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) and further reduce intake to 1,500 mg among persons who are 51 and older and those of any age who are African American or have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. The 1,500 mg recommendation applies to about half of the U.S. population, including children, and the majority of adults.

http://www.mypyramid.gov/guidelines/ExecSumm.pdf

recipe4success

actually that is incorrect. recent guidelines suggest that we should be aiming for around 2300 mg/day, whereas previously it was thought that an additional salt restriction would be beneficial. Salt/sodium does play important roles in our body, although the typical diet of North Americans is higher in salt due to intake of processed foods etc...thus the feeling that we need to restrict it.

You're a little off - the newest guidelines (2011) suggest 1500mg/day as a maximum for everyone, not 2300mg/day. That was the old (2005) guidelines. Check out the article I posted.

quote from your article:

The Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments, which issue the guidelines every five years, are telling people age 51 and older, all African-Americans and anyone with high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease to cut the amount of sodium they at daily to 1,500 milligrams per day, or little more than half a teaspoon.

For everyone else, the government continues to recommend about a teaspoon a day -- 2,300 milligrams, or about one-third less than the average person usually consumes.


LIke I said, the recommendation is for 2300 mg a day. It isn't healthy to restrict sodium to a very low level.

ladybug1620

Recent guidelines suggest no more than 1500 mg/day for everyone. Before this, the recommended maximum was 2300mg/day, with 1500mg/day for African Americans, people over 50, people with high blood pressure or chronic kidney problems... possibly some other conditions, too.

Bascially - the lower you can get, the better off your body will be. You only need about 500mg/day for proper body functioning, anything over than is optional.

The article states that the recommended amount for people other than those risk groups has not changed.

"The Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments, which issue the guidelines every five years, are telling people age 51 and older, all African-Americans and anyone with high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease to cut the amount of sodium they at daily to 1,500 milligrams per day, or little more than half a teaspoon.

For everyone else, the government continues to recommend about a teaspoon a day -- 2,300 milligrams, or about one-third less than the average person usually consumes."

Anyway, the OP states he is 51 so it would be correct to assume he should have no more than 1500 mg.

philsox11

Thanks to all for the advice. I have no HBP issues. Based on the range of recommendations from 1500 to 2300 mgs of sodium intake, (I'll do some research as well), I believe I'm within that range, but my tracking on the food log will actually tell the tale. Just getting started using these tools, so I'll have to get used to making disciplined inputs.

Mindful_Trent

actually that is incorrect. recent guidelines suggest that we should be aiming for around 2300 mg/day, whereas previously it was thought that an additional salt restriction would be beneficial. Salt/sodium does play important roles in our body, although the typical diet of North Americans is higher in salt due to intake of processed foods etc...thus the feeling that we need to restrict it.

You're a little off - the newest guidelines (2011) suggest 1500mg/day as a maximum for everyone, not 2300mg/day. That was the old (2005) guidelines. Check out the article I posted.

quote from your article:

The Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments, which issue the guidelines every five years, are telling people age 51 and older, all African-Americans and anyone with high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease to cut the amount of sodium they at daily to 1,500 milligrams per day, or little more than half a teaspoon.

For everyone else, the government continues to recommend about a teaspoon a day -- 2,300 milligrams, or about one-third less than the average person usually consumes.


LIke I said, the recommendation is for 2300 mg a day. It isn't healthy to restrict sodium to a very low level.

Sorry guys - I'd been misinformed about it being 1500mg/day for everyone, and didn't read the whole article before posting. Have since corrected my posts/information.

Apologies.

goatstew

Sodium is such a hard spot for me. It's amazing to realize how much we consume that we shouldn't, and it's so hard to keep it as low as I should. I have found a sodium substitute by Morton that helps some. If you're a salt person and having a hard time with cutting it out, you could try the substitute to help. Good luck!

recipe4success

one thing about sodium substitutes (i.e. half salt, no salt)..they tend to be high in potassium, which can cause problems if you have heart issues (such as hypertension). For that reason I really wouldn't recommend them to anyone.