Sodium Intake and Cardiovascular Health

Sodium is an essential nutrient. Increasing sodium intake is associated with increasing blood pressure, whereas low sodium intake results in increased renin and aldosterone levels. Randomized controlled trials have reported reductions in blood pressure with reductions in sodium intake, to levels of sodium intake <1.5 g/d, and form the evidentiary basis for current population-wide guidelines recommending low sodium intake. Although low sodium intake (<2.0 g/d) has been achieved in short-term feeding clinical trials, sustained low sodium intake has not been achieved by any of the longer term clinical trials (>6-month duration). It is assumed that the blood pressure-lowering effects of reducing sodium intake to low levels will result in large …