Search for a daily sodium limit and you will get two answers within the first few results. Both are legitimate. They come from different bodies answering slightly different questions, and knowing which is which makes the guidance far less confusing.

2,300 mg: the general upper limit

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that people aged 14 and older consume less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. This is also the Daily Value the FDA uses on Nutrition Facts panels, which is why every %DV figure you read is measured against it.

For scale, 2,300 mg is roughly the sodium in one teaspoon of table salt. Children have lower recommended limits that scale with age.

1,500 mg: the ideal for most adults

The American Heart Association recommends no more than 2,300 mg a day and states that an ideal limit for most adults is closer to 1,500 mg, particularly for people with high blood pressure. It is a target rather than a ceiling — a description of where the greater benefit appears to sit.

Why your number may be different

Population guidance is written for populations. Individual targets can be lower or, occasionally, different in kind. People managing high blood pressure, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, or liver disease are often given specific limits. Certain medications, pregnancy, endurance training in heat, and some rarer conditions all change the picture.

This is genuinely a question for a doctor or a registered dietitian who knows your history. A tracking app can tell you what you ate; it cannot tell you what you should aim for.

Setting a target you will actually keep

  1. Measure before you decideLog three to five ordinary days without changing anything. A goal set against a real baseline is achievable; one set against a guess usually is not.
  2. Step down, do not jumpIf you are averaging 3,600 mg, aiming for 1,500 tomorrow tends to produce a few strict days and then abandonment. A first target somewhere below your current average is more durable.
  3. Think in weeks, not daysOne high day inside an otherwise steady week is not a failure. Trends are the thing worth watching.
  4. Give your palate timeTaste preference for salt adapts. Food that seems flat during the first week of a reduction often tastes normal within a month, and heavily salted food starts to taste sharp.

What a daily number is good for

A target is most useful as a frame of reference during the day, not as a verdict at the end of it. Knowing you have used about half your day before dinner changes what you order. Learning at 11pm that you were 400 mg over changes nothing.

Sodi keeps the running total visible for that reason: the number is there when a decision is still in front of you.

The best sodium target is the one you can hold for a year, not the one that looks most impressive on paper.

This article is general information about nutrition labels and sodium, not medical advice. If you have been given a specific sodium target, follow the guidance of your doctor or dietitian.