Ask Dr. Gourmet

What is the right amount of sodium for those on a low sodium diet?

How much salt in milligrams should a person on a low salt diet intake each day? Can you eat Kosher salt on a low salt diet?

Dr. Gourmet Says...

Most physicians will ask their patients on a low sodium diet to consume less than 2,000 mg per day. We know from research on the D.A.S.H. diet that folks who eat less than 1,500 mg per day have much lower risk of high blood pressure. In our patients with the most severe of issues, such as Class IV heart failure, we will occasionally have folks on 1,000 mg per day, but this is a pretty tough diet to follow.

Check with your doctor to be sure. He or she will likely want you on a 2,000 mg sodium per day diet.

And of course you can have kosher salt. Salt is salt. Many kosher salts are larger crystals and will for that reason often have less actual sodium per measured teaspoon than the much more finely ground table salt, so the key here, as in all low sodium diets, is to measure carefully.

Thanks for writing.

Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP, CCMS
Dr. Gourmet

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