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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?
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