Sodium Guidelines

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13 Jul 2025

USDA (US Department of Agriculture), WHO (World Health Organization), Canadian Food Guide, and AHA (American Heart Association) recommend limiting sodium intake to 2,300 mg (< 1 tsp salt), 2,000 mg (< 7/8 tsp salt), 1,500 mg (< 5/8 tsp salt), and 1,500 mg (< 5/8 tsp salt), respectively.

On a 2,000 calorie Whole Food Plant-Based diet, we can get approximately 400 mg sodium from the food itself. If we add 1/2 tsp salt, our sodium intake increases by approximately 1,100 mg sodium, for a total of approximately 1,500 mg sodium daily. If we choose to add only 1/4 tsp salt or 1/8 tsp salt daily, our total sodium intake lowers further. In fact, many WFPB luminaries recommend adopting a salt-free lifestyle!

Note: A small percentage of people have medical conditions like hyponatremia and must consume salt for medical reasons. Thus a salt-free lifesytle is not for everybody. If we have any medical condition, we must consult with a licensed medical doctor before making any dietary changes.

FDA and USDA recommend at most 2,300 mg sodium daily (< 1 tsp salt), based on 2020-2025 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

WHO (World Health Organization) recomends less than 2,000 mg / day of sodium intake, which amounts to approximately 1 tsp salt.

Health Canada (Govt of Canada) recommends an Adequate Intake (AI) of 1,500 mg sodium daily, which is approximately < 5/8 tsp of salt.

NOTE: For an exposition of technical terms like RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance), AI (Adequate Intake), UL (Tolerable Upper Intake Level) and EAR (Estimated Average Requirement), check outt this excellent article: What are Dietary Reference Intakes?.

Canada's Food Guide recommends: "Prepare meals and snacks using ingredients that have LITTLE TO NO SODIUM, sugars and added fat." "NO SODIUM" is an option!

American Heart Association recommends an ideal limit of less than 1,500 mg sodium daily (which is equivalent to approximately 5/8 tsp salt). The 2021 Dietary Guidelines by AHA recomend choosing foods with LITTLE OR NO SALT.

Interestingly AHA informs us that our body's need for sodium are remarkably low: less than 500 mg of sodium daily suffices!.

How may we follow AHA (American Heart Association)'s recommendation of at most 1,500 mg sodium daily? Turns out that if we prepare Whole Food Plant-Based meals, we get approximately 300 mg to 500 mg sodium on a 2,000 calorie diet (the exact number depends on the choice of fruits, vegetables and other plant foods in our food plates). If we add half a teaspoon of salt (which has approximately 1,100 mg sodium), our total sodium intake is likely to be less than 1,500 mg. For details, see Dr McDougall's article on salt.

Excess Sodium

How many people consume excess sodium and too little potassium? "Less than 1 in 5,000 individuals in USA", says Dr Greger! Why are sodium and potassium studied together? See Sodium Potassium Ratio | K Factor.

(2022) Fewer Than 1 in 5,000 Meet Sodium and Potassium Recommended Intakes

(5 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "A staggering 99.99 percent of Americans fail to get the minimum recommended potassium intake (despite it being perhaps only half of our natural intake) and stay below the recommended sodium intake (even though it may be twice our natural intake)."

(2016) Salt of the Earth: Sodium & Plant-Based Diets

(4 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "Is a plant-based diet sufficient to reach sodium goals?"

This video helped me learn that USDA recommends <2300 mg sodium per day. AHA (American Heart Association) recommends <1500 mg sodium per day. Vegetarians eat about 3,000 mg sodium per day; non-vegetarians consume about 3,500 mg sodium per day. In Europe, only the vegans manage to be around 1,300 mg sodium per day, which is below the AHA limit of <1500 mg sodium per day.

Zero Salt | Salt-Free | SOS-Free?

Should we cut down our salt intake to zero and adopt SOS-Free lifestyle? SOS stands for Sugar, Oil and Salt. Several Whole Food Plant-Based luminaries advocate a zero-salt | salt-free | SOS-free lifestyle.

References

(2025) Sodium reduction, published by WHO (World Hearlth Organization).

(2018) A Salty Situation, published by Health Canada, Govt of Canada.

(2020) Canada's Food Guide — Healthy Food Choices, published by Health Canada (Govt of Canada).

(2024) Sodium in Your Diet, published at FDA website.

(2025) Why Should I Limit Sodium, 2-page Fact Sheet by AHA (American Heart Association).

(2021) 2021 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association, Circulation. 2021;144:e472–e487.

(2025) How much sodium should I eat per day?, at AHA (American Heart Association) website.

(2008) Salt: The Scapegoat for the Western Diet, by Dr John McDougall.

(2025) Shaking the Salt Habit to Lower High Blood Pressure, (2-page Fact Sheet) by AHA (American Heart Association).

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