Research

Hormonal

Global average sodium intake (3.95 g/day) is nearly double the WHO recommended limit (2 g/day), meaning virtually all populations exceed levels associated with increased cardiovascular risk and blood pressure.

Check your sodium intake. Most people eat nearly double the recommended amount. Reducing sodium is a high-impact action for heart health, regardless of your current diet.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
In 2010, global mean sodium intake was 3.95 g/day... This was nearly twice the WHO recommended limit of 2 g/day... Our findings demonstrate that, whether modest (2–2.4 g/day) or low (1.20–1.5 g/day) target intakes are designated as optimal, virtually every nation in the world, and each age and sex group within these nations, exceed these optimal intakes.
John Powles et al. · BMJ Open · 2013

Why this rating

Large-scale systematic analysis of 245 surveys across 66 countries using Bayesian hierarchical modeling.

Source

Global, regional and national sodium intakes in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis of 24 h urinary sodium excretion and dietary surveys worldwide

John Powles et al. · BMJ Open · 2013

DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003733

Meta-analysis · 245 studiesCited 951×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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