Research

Mixed

Sodium added to food outside the home (commercial processing and restaurant preparation) accounts for approximately 71% of total sodium intake in US adults, making it the primary source of dietary sodium.

To reduce sodium, focus on the food you buy and eat outside the home, not just the salt shaker. Check Nutrition Facts labels for packaged foods and ask for nutrition info when eating at restaurants. Reducing salt at the table is helpful but insufficient on its own because most sodium is already in processed and restaurant foods.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Sodium added to food outside the home was the leading source of sodium, accounting for more than two thirds (70.9%) of total sodium intake in the sample.
Lisa Harnack et al. · Circulation · 2017

Why this rating

Large sample size (n=450), diverse demographics, and use of objective duplicate salt samples, though it is a cross-sectional observational study.

Source

Sources of Sodium in US Adults From 3 Geographic Regions

Lisa Harnack et al. · Circulation · 2017

DOI 10.1161/circulationaha.116.024446

cross_sectional · n=450Cited 185×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →