FIGURE 3-6. Failure to compensate decreased dietary sodium with increased table salt use in participants on a low-sodium diet.

FIGURE 3-6Failure to compensate decreased dietary sodium with increased table salt use in participants on a low-sodium diet

Sodium intake as measured by 24-hour urinary excretion is presented on the vertical axes. Participants in this study consumed approximately 3,100 mg of sodium per day (weeks 1–3, horizontal axis), a typical amount, prior to going on a low-sodium diet (1,600 mg/d on average) in a hospital (weeks 3–13). In week 14, 24-hour urines were again collected after the subjects were permitted regular foods in the hospital. The gray shaded area represents the total sodium consumed in food. The black shaded area represents the amount of sodium added by the participants from their ad libitum use of salt shakers.

SOURCE: Adapted from Beauchamp et al., 1987. Journal of the American Medical Association 258(22):3275–3278. Copyright © 1987 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.

From: 3, Taste and Flavor Roles of Sodium in Foods: A Unique Challenge to Reducing Sodium Intake

Cover of Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States
Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States.
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake; Henney JE, Taylor CL, Boon CS, editors.
Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2010.
Copyright © 2010, National Academy of Sciences.

NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.