The Great Salt Myth: How Much Salt Per Day Is Best

For decades, we’ve been told that salt is the villain in our kitchens – the white crystal of death that’s slowly raising our blood pressure and leading to our cardiovascular demise.

If you’ve ever felt guilty reaching for the salt shaker or spent time squinting at nutrition labels hunting for “low sodium” options, you’re not alone.

But what if I told you the war on salt has been one of the biggest nutritional missteps of the last 50 years?

How much salt per day should you consume?

What if the very mineral we’ve been taught to fear is actually essential for optimal health, energy and performance?

Welcome to the Great Salt Myth – where bad science, cherry-picked data, and inherited wisdom have demonized one of the most crucial nutrients your body needs.

The Birth of a Bad Idea

The anti-salt movement didn’t start with rigorous human studies or comprehensive population data.

It began in the 1960s with a scientist named Lewis Dahl who discovered that feeding rats the human equivalent of about 150 times the normal daily dose of sodium gave them high blood pressure.

Shocking, right?

Giving any living creature 150 times the normal amount of anything will probably cause problems.

But somehow, this extreme rat study became the foundation for decades of dietary recommendations affecting millions of people.

By 1980, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines officially declared war on salt, recommending that Americans limit their intake to prevent hypertension and heart disease.

The problem?

This recommendation was based on what Dr. James DiNicolantonio calls “inherited wisdom, not scientific fact.”

When The Real Science Speaks

Here’s what happens when you actually look at comprehensive human data instead of relying on rat studies.

The INTERSALT Study examined over 10,000 people across 48 global populations and found ZERO correlation between salt intake and the prevalence of high blood pressure.

If salt truly cause hypertension, it would have shown up here. Instead, the highest salt-consuming population actually had lower median blood pressure than the lowest salt-consuming group.

The Framingham Offspring Study found that people without hypertension who consumed less that 2.5 grams of sodium per day had HIGHER blood pressure than those consuming more salt.

A 2011 study published in the Journal of American Medical Association followed 28,800 high-risk heart disease patients and found that the sweet spot for cardiovascular health was between 4-6 grams of sodium per day.

Those restricting sodium had a 19% higher risk of cardiovascular death.

The Plot Twist Nobody Saw Coming

This is where it gets even more interesting.

When you restrict salt intake, your body doesn’t just accept defeat and move on.

Instead, it goes into full panic mode.

Your kidneys start releasing sodium-retention hormones like aldosterone, renin, and angiotensin to desperately hold onto every grain of salt they can find.

The ironic twist?

These same hormones that are trying to save your sodium levels also raise your blood pressure.

So the very thing we’re trying to prevent – elevated blood pressure – can actually be caused by restricting salt too aggressively.

We Are Essentially Salty People

Here’s a fun fact that might change your perspective: the salt concentration in our blood is remarkably similar to that of the ocean.

We cry salt, we sweat salt, and every cell in our body is bathed in salty fluid.

Without adequate sodium, your body starts breaking down your bones to maintain proper salt levels in your blood.

Yes, you read that right – your body would rather give you osteoporosis than let your sodium levels drop too low.

This isn’t a design flaw. Humans have been consciously producin and consuming salt for at least 8,000 years.

By the 16th century, Europeans were consuming aroung 40 grams of salt per day. I

In the 18th century, that number climbed to 70 grams – four to seven times what most people consume today.

All of this suggests that our current “epidemic” of salt consumption is actually historically quite low.

The Real White Crystal We Should Worry About

While we’ve been obsessing over salt, there’s been another white crystal quietly wreaking havoc on our health: sugar.

In 1776, Americans consumed just 4 pounds of refined sugar per person per year.

By 2002, that figure had increased thirty-fold.

The timeline of rising chronic diseases—hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and kidney disease—correlates perfectly with increased sugar consumption, not salt intake.

But here’s the kicker: the sugar industry receives billions of dollars in government subsidies annually.

Money talks, and apparently it’s been talking louder than science for decades.

The Performance Connection

For busy executives, engineers, and entrepreneurs, adequate sodium isn’t just about avoiding disease—it’s about optimizing performance.

Low sodium levels lead to:

• Decreased energy and mental focus
• Increased fatigue and brain fog
• Muscle cramps and weakness
• Poor sleep quality
• Reduced exercise performance

Sound familiar?

Many of the symptoms we attribute to stress, overwork, or poor sleep quality might actually be signs of sodium deficiency.

What About Salt Sensitivity?

Now, I’m not suggesting we all start dumping salt on everything like it’s pixie dust.

About 20% of people with normal blood pressure and 45% of those with hypertension are genuinely salt-sensitive.

But here’s the important distinction: salt sensitivity is often a symptom of underlying metabolic dysfunction, not the cause.

Issues like insulin resistance, kidney problems, and other metabolic disorders can make someone more sensitive to sodium.

The solution isn’t necessarily to restrict salt forever, but to address the root cause of the sensitivity.

The Sweet Spot

Based on the best available research, most healthy adults need between 4-6 grams of sodium per day for optimal health.

That’s nearly double what current government guidelines recommend.

If you’re active, sweat regularly, follow a low-carb diet, or practice intermittent fasting, you’ll likely need even more.

And before you start worrying about overdoing it, remember: your kidneys filter this amount of salt every five minutes.

In fact, most of the stress on your kidneys comes from having to conserve and reabsorb the 3.2 to 3.6 pounds of salt that filter through them daily when you’re not getting enough.

Practical Application

So what does this mean for your daily life?

Stop feeling guilty about salting your food to taste.

Your body has sophisticated mechanisms for regulating sodium, and salt cravings are as natural and necessary as thirst.

Focus on getting high-quality salt like unprocessed sea salt or rock salt, and pair it with whole, minimally processed foods.

If you’re experiencing symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, or muscle cramps—especially if you’re active or following a clean diet—consider that you might need more salt, not less.

Our ultimate recommendation is incorporating an electrolyte drink such as LMNT.

The Bottom Line

The great salt myth has cost us decades of misguided dietary advice and countless people suffering from unnecessary sodium deficiency symptoms.

The real enemy isn’t the salt shaker on your table—it’s the hyperprocessed, sugar-laden food supply that’s making us sick.

While government agencies continue their war on an essential mineral, armed with cherry-picked studies and faulty logic, you now have the information to make better choices for your health.

Your body is asking for salt for a reason. Maybe it’s time we started listening.

Remember: if you have specific health conditions or take medications that affect sodium levels, always consult with a healthcare provider before making significant changes to your salt intake. But for most healthy adults, the science suggests we’ve been getting it wrong for far too long.