--- title: CDC and Sodium Recommendations: 90% of Americans Eat Too Much Salt description: Consuming too much sodium can be a risk factor for heart problems, and new federal data shows that Americans are eating a whole lot of salt canonical: https://time.com/3944545/sodium-heart/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-02T17:00:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:41.640Z article:section: Health og:title: 90% of Americans Eat Too Much Salt og:description: Consuming too much sodium can be a risk factor for heart problems, and new federal data shows that Americans are eating a whole lot of salt og:url: https://time.com/3944545/sodium-heart/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2af9691eb2337dae/6988597acd1bbaf3a66fc1cb/saltttt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5175 og:image:height: 2911 og:image:alt: 149316485 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 90% of Americans Eat Too Much Salt twitter:description: Consuming too much sodium can be a risk factor for heart problems, and new federal data shows that Americans are eating a whole lot of salt twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2af9691eb2337dae/6988597acd1bbaf3a66fc1cb/saltttt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 90% of Americans Eat Too Much Salt > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Is Sea Salt Healthier Than Table Salt? [Watch (HLS stream): Is Sea Salt Healthier Than Table Salt?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jkmYRgZ8.m3u8) (2:11)  _Published 2015-05-15. Sea salt is an increasingly popular alternative to table salt. But is it really better for you? Our Healthy Skeptic investigates._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jul 2, 2015 5:00 PM UTC  Close up of salt shakers on counter Close up of salt shakers on counter Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jul 2, 2015 5:00 PM UTC Consuming too much sodium can be a risk factor for heart problems, and new federal data shows more than 90% of Americans eat too much. The findings show that from 2011 to 2012, the average daily sodium intake among U.S. adults was 3,592 mg, which is well above the public health [target](http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/data/Chart/4947?category=926&by=Country%5Fof%5Fbirth) set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) of 2,300 mg. The data comes from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 2013 survey of 180,000 American adults in 26 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. The findings were published Thursday in the CDC’s _Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report_ (_MMWR_). Some Americans, however, are taking action to cut back, the report shows. About half of the U.S. adults surveyed said they were monitoring or reducing their sodium intake, and 20% said they had received medical advice to do so. People with high blood pressure were more likely to report they were doing something about their sodium consumption, and overall, people in Southern states were more likely to report such action or advice from medical providers. Public health experts argue that people without high blood pressure could also benefit from cutting back. “Among adults without hypertension, most did not report taking action to reduce sodium intake, and an even smaller proportion reported receiving professional advice to reduced sodium,” the study authors write. “These findings suggest an opportunity for promoting strategies to reduce sodium consumption among all adults, with and without hypertension.” Sodium intake recommendations have been the focus of controversy, with some researchers [arguing](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/opinion/sunday/the-debate-on-salty-foods-continued.html?%5Fr=0) that sodium levels are safe and that cutting back to very low recommended levels could be harmful. Others argue that high sodium consumption is related to serious health complications and contributes to [millions of deaths every year](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1304127). Some groups recommend limits that are even lower than the HHS; for instance, the American Heart Association [recommends ](http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HighBloodPressure/PreventionTreatmentofHighBloodPressure/Shaking-the-Salt-Habit%5FUCM%5F303241%5FArticle.jsp)less than 1,500 mg a day. In the new CDC report, researchers say that a high sodium habit doesn’t come cheap; medical costs for cardiovascular disease are predicted to triple from $273 billion to $818 billion between 2010 to 2030, and cutting back on sodium intake by 1,200 mg a day could save $18 billion in costs each year, they say. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3944545/sodium-heart/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3944545/sodium-heart/"},"headline":"90% of Americans Eat Too Much Salt","datePublished":"2015-07-02T17:00:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:41.640Z","description":"A new report sheds light on Americans' sodium habits","url":"https://time.com/3944545/sodium-heart/","keywords":["Research","sodium","Heart Disease","CDC","Salt"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2af9691eb2337dae/6988597acd1bbaf3a66fc1cb/saltttt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2af9691eb2337dae/6988597acd1bbaf3a66fc1cb/saltttt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"149316485","caption":"149316485","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3944545/sodium-heart/","name":"90% of Americans Eat Too Much Salt"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Is Sea Salt Healthier Than Table Salt?","description":"Sea salt is an increasingly popular alternative to table salt. 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