Adherence
Intensive dietary counseling targeting sodium reduction to <2.3 g/day fails to sustainably reduce sodium intake, blood pressure, or cardiorenal biomarkers in individuals with moderate baseline sodium intake over a two-year period.
If you currently eat a moderate amount of sodium (around 3 grams/day), trying to drastically cut it down to less than 2.3 grams through intense counseling is unlikely to work long-term. You might see a small, short-term drop in blood pressure, but it won't last, and it won't improve your heart or kidney health markers. The effort required to maintain such a low intake is likely too high for sustainable results in this group.
Among individuals with moderate sodium intake, intensive dietary counselling resulted in small short-term reductions in sodium intake and BP, but no significant effect on sodium intake, BP, or cardiorenal biomarkers at two years. Our trial suggests that it may not feasible to reduce sodium sustainably in those with a sodium intake around 3.0 g/day, through an intensive dietary counselling intervention.
Why this rating
Randomized controlled trials with objective biomarkers (24h urine sodium, BP), though limited by the specific population (moderate intake) and feasibility design.
Source
Dietary counselling to reduce moderate sodium intake: effects on cardiovascular and renal biomarkers: primary findings of the COSIP and STICK phase II feasibility randomised controlled trials
Andrew Smyth et al. · EClinicalMedicine · 2023
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