The Food and Drug Administration sets the Daily Value for sodium at less than 2,300 milligrams per day, which is roughly what one teaspoon of table salt contains.
It is the number every packaged food label is measured against.
The problem is the gap. Americans eat about 3,400 mg of sodium a day on average, roughly 48 percent more than the recommendation.
That difference matters, because the FDA notes that too much sodium can raise blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
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Where the sodium actually hides
Most of it does not come from your salt shaker. According to the FDA, more than 70 percent of the sodium Americans eat comes from processed, packaged and prepared foods, not from salt added while cooking or eating at home.
The CDC makes the same point in plainer terms: most sodium in our diets comes from packaged and restaurant food.
That is why label-reading, not willpower at dinner, is the practical skill.
The FDA lists the top food categories driving the average American's intake: bread and rolls, pizza, sandwiches, cold cuts and cured meats, soups, burritos and tacos, savory snacks, chicken, cheese, and eggs and omelets.
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Some of those are obvious. Others are not. Bread on its own does not taste salty, but a couple of slices at breakfast plus a sandwich at lunch adds up before you notice, which is why bread and rolls sit near the top of the FDA's list.
Pizza, soups and cold cuts stack on top of that during a normal day, without anyone reaching for the salt shaker.
How to read the label for sodium
The Nutrition Facts label lists sodium in milligrams and as a percent Daily Value (%DV).
As a rule of thumb, the FDA says 5 percent DV or less of sodium per serving is low, and 20 percent DV or more is high.
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Two habits do most of the work. First, check the serving size at the top of the label.
A can of soup often holds two servings, so the actual bowl delivers double the milligrams printed next to one serving.
Second, compare products side by side. Two loaves of bread on the same shelf can differ by hundreds of milligrams per slice, and swapping to the lower one costs nothing.
Reducing sodium is not about a single meal. The FDA estimates that lowering intake could prevent hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and illnesses in the coming years, and most of that gain comes from the everyday foods above, not from the pinch you add at the stove.
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If you have high blood pressure or your doctor has flagged your cardiovascular risk, ask about a personal sodium target.
For most other adults, the FDA's number to beat is 2,300 mg a day, printed at the bottom of every Nutrition Facts label as the 100 percent line.
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This article is made and published by Mie Hermansen, who may have used AI in the preparation.