How much is too much salt in our diets? That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
How much salt do we need?
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), sodium consumption should not exceed 1.5g per day (3.75g of salt), and that even includes healthy people without high blood pressure, diabetes or cardiovascular diseases.
AHA’s chief executive officer, Nancy Brown said “Our recommendation is simple in the sense that it applies to the entire U.S population, not just at-risk groups. Americans of all ages, regardless of individual risk factors, can improve the heart health and reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease by restricting their daily consumption of sodium to less that 1,500 milligrams.”
The AHA recommendation was published in the journal Circulation (November 5th, 2012 issue).
According to the Food Standards Agency (UK)3, the human Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) should be:
- Age 11 years and over, 6g per day (2300 mg sodium)
- Age 7-10 years, 5g per day
- Age 4-6 years, 3g per day
- Age 1-3 years, 2g per day.
Infants under 1 year should not be given salt because their kidneys are not matured.