How to Cut Your Sodium Intake Without Losing Flavor

SODIUM · HEALTHY AGING

You rarely reach for the saltshaker, so sodium feels like someone else’s concern. Then you glance at the label on a can of soup or a deli sandwich and realize how much arrives before you ever pick up a fork.

Your sodium intake is one of the few dietary numbers with a clear and fairly quick payoff, because blood pressure in most adults studied responds to it within a week. Yet most of the sodium Americans eat is already in the food when it reaches the plate, which is why cutting back can feel mysterious. This guide covers how much sodium current guidelines recommend, why it matters more as the years go by, where it hides, how to read a label in seconds, and how to keep meals flavorful with less salt.

How Much Sodium Intake Is Right for You?

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, published in January 2026, advise that people 14 and older consume less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day. The Food and Drug Administration uses the same figure for the Daily Value on Nutrition Facts labels, and the American Heart Association recommends no more than 2,300 milligrams with an optimal goal of no more than 1,500 milligrams for most adults.

Benchmark	Daily sodium	Source
What the body needs	Under 500 mg, less than 1/4 teaspoon of salt	American Heart Association
Optimal goal for most adults	No more than 1,500 mg	American Heart Association
Recommended upper limit, ages 14 and up	Less than 2,300 mg	Dietary Guidelines, FDA Daily Value
Average U.S. intake	About 3,400 mg	FDA

That last line is the gap most of us live in. According to the FDA, Americans eat about 3,400 milligrams of sodium a day on average. If your health care team has given you a different target, for example because of heart failure or kidney disease, follow theirs.

Why Sodium Matters More in Midlife

The FDA notes that diets higher in sodium are associated with an increased risk of developing high blood pressure. A striking trial from 2023 shows how responsive blood pressure can be in exactly the age group Stature™ writes for. In the study, published in JAMA, 213 adults aged 50 to 75 spent one week on a high-sodium diet, with about 2,200 milligrams added to their usual intake, and one week on a low-sodium diet of about 500 milligrams in total. The group included people with normal blood pressure as well as people with treated or untreated hypertension.

After the first week, systolic blood pressure was 8 mm Hg lower on average in participants who started on the low-sodium diet than in those who started on the high-sodium diet. Nearly 75 percent of participants saw their systolic pressure drop on the low-sodium plan, an effect the authors described as comparable with a commonly used first-line blood pressure medication. A 500-milligram diet is far stricter than most people can sustain, and the trial was short, but the direction is clear. The American Heart Association adds that cutting just 1,000 milligrams a day can improve blood pressure and heart health for most people, and our guide to exercise to lower blood pressure covers the other half of that equation.

Where Sodium Hides in Everyday Foods

The FDA’s consumer guide Sodium in Your Diet reports that more than 70 percent of dietary sodium comes from packaged and prepared foods, not from the shaker at the table. It also lists the foods that together supply about 40 percent of the sodium Americans consume:

• Deli meat sandwiches
• Pizza
• Burritos and tacos
• Soups
• Savory snacks such as chips, crackers and popcorn
• Poultry
• Pasta mixed dishes
• Burgers
• Egg dishes and omelets

Notice that few of these are foods most of us think of as salty. Many combine several sodium-containing ingredients, such as bread, cheese, cured meat and sauce, in a single dish. The new Dietary Guidelines put it bluntly, advising that highly processed foods high in sodium should be avoided.

Reading Labels Without a Calculator

The fastest shortcut is the percent Daily Value printed beside sodium on the Nutrition Facts panel. The FDA considers 5 percent or less per serving low and 20 percent or more per serving high. Check the serving size too, since a can of soup or a frozen entrée may hold more than one serving. Package claims can help, as long as you know what they mean.

Label claim	What it means
Salt-free or sodium-free	Less than 5 mg per serving
Very low sodium	35 mg or less per serving
Low sodium	140 mg or less per serving
Reduced sodium	At least 25 percent less than the regular product
Light in sodium or lightly salted	At least 50 percent less than the regular product
No salt added or unsalted	No salt added during processing; not necessarily sodium-free

“Reduced sodium” is a comparison, not a guarantee. A reduced-sodium soup can still sit well above 20 percent of the Daily Value, so the number on the panel remains the better guide.

Cooking and Eating Out With Less Salt

Home cooking gives you the most control. The FDA suggests preparing your own food when you can, choosing fresh meat, poultry and seafood rather than processed versions, and limiting packaged sauces, mixes and “instant” products. Rinsing canned beans, tuna and vegetables before you eat them removes some of the sodium they are packed in.

• Build flavor in layers. Garlic, onion, citrus zest, vinegar, black pepper, toasted spices and fresh herbs all brighten food without much sodium.
• Taste before you salt. Season with everything else first, then decide at the end whether the dish needs a pinch at all.
• Swap the sandwich base. Leftover roast chicken or a bean spread can replace deli meat, one of the top sources on the FDA list.
• Order with intent. Ask for your meal to be prepared without added table salt, and request sauces and dressings on the side, both tips from the FDA.

Expect the first week or two to taste a little flat, and lean on those flavor builders while you adjust. A vegetable-forward pattern such as the one in our guide to the Mediterranean diet, one meal at a time centers meals on fresh foods rather than packaged ones, which makes the lower target easier to reach.

Salt Substitutes, Sweat and Special Cases

Potassium-based salt substitutes have strong evidence behind them for some people. In the Salt Substitute and Stroke Study, reported in 2021 and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 20,995 adults in rural Chinese villages who had a history of stroke, or were 60 or older with high blood pressure, used either regular salt or a substitute made of 70 percent sodium chloride and 25 percent potassium chloride. Over an average of 4.74 years, the substitute group had a 14 percent lower rate of stroke, a 13 percent lower rate of major cardiovascular events and a 12 percent lower death rate. People with impaired kidney function were excluded, because extra potassium could cause dangerously high blood potassium in people with severe kidney disease. If you have kidney disease or take medicines that affect potassium, ask your doctor before trying a substitute.

If you train hard, sweat is part of the picture. The Dietary Guidelines note that highly active individuals may benefit from increased sodium intake to offset sweat losses, which is why a salty snack or a sports drink can make sense after a long, hot session. Our guide to how much water to drink before, during and after exercise covers fluids and electrolytes. For most moderately active adults, though, the bigger opportunity is trimming the sodium in everyday meals rather than adding more.