Ask Dr. Gourmet

How much salt does the body need? Can we get that from vegetables alone?

Do you recommend against adding table salt while cooking and before eating?

Can we get all the required sodium from the vegetables that we eat? I have heard that the amount of sodium the body needs/uses is around 300mg per day. Is that correct?

Dr. Gourmet Says...

I don't recommend using added salt at the table. I am a big fan of measuring salt carefully when cooking recipes.

Here's the minimum Recommended Daily Allowance of sodium for different age groups.

	Age group	Minimum sodium requirement (mg/day)
Infants	0-0.5 year	120 mg
	0.5-1 year	200 mg
Children	1 year	225 mg
	2-5 years	300 mg
	6-9 years	400 mg
	10-18 years	500 mg
Adults		500 mg
Pregnant Women		569 mg
Lactating Women		635 mg

It would be very easy to get the minimum RDA for sodium from veggies alone. Eight ounces of raw broccoli has about 75 mg, for instance. Many other foods contain a fair amount of sodium in their natural state: for example, a cup of milk has 125 mg and 4 ounces of beef has about 70 mg.

Thanks for writing,

Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP
Dr. Gourmet