The average American consumes more sodium than is recommended. People with bipolar disorder that take lithium are advised that a low sodium diet is dangerous and are advised to regulate their sodium intake accordingly.
With these two facts in mind, what are the risks of a high sodium diet? What level of sodium consumption would start to cause negative health effects?
Lithium is a simple salt and is similar to table salt. Salt consumption can cause fluctuations in serum lithium levels. While taking lithium, do not make sudden changes to your salt intake. A sudden decrease in sodium intake may result in higher serum lithium levels, while a sudden increase in sodium might prompt your lithium levels to fall. Discuss any changes to sodium intake with your doctor prior to making them.
It’s almost entirely a cardiovascular risk.
High levels of sodium results in your body retaining more water to maintain the balance of sodium in your blood which means your heart has to do more work, blood pressure will increase. You can partially offset this with potassium but this should not be relied on alone.
Diets with over 5g a day are very bad, there is substantial increase in BP with a corresponding increase in cardiovascular disease risk. AHA recommends no more than 2.4g.
A good option to limit sodium is to use salt alternatives like MSG, beyond having much less sodium then salt you also need to use less. Herbs & spices can also fill a gap here. When you are cooking season everything individually too, people generally use more salt when they only season at the end of cooking.
It can raise your blood pressure a flat rate of maybe 5 points, and deplete some other electrolytes especially if you aren’t getting those. Basically it’s pretty harmless though. But don’t stop researching. If you ever do low carb, in particular, research the special changes needed in potassium, sodium, and magnesium intake.
You can note a correlation between high sodium and high crap in foods; but you shouldn’t be eating crap anyway - you’re in r/nutrition so you’re eating lots of whole foods, fresh where applicable. Some notable high sodium foods I am eating are tinned oily fishes. Fresh would be great, but as I am low carb I would still add bunches of salt - and I actually supplement salt (and potassium salt, and magnesium)
I took nutrition as a pre-req in nursing (I changed majors though) and I recall our textbook saying a healthy amount of sodium is 1500 mg - 2300 mg. Any restaurant food is likely to be excess in sodium–this includes the salads–and if sodium intake is a concern for you then it’s highly advised to cook at home and avoid fried food.
Personally, I found my body reacts negatively to any amount above 1800 and limit myself to 1500 most days of the week.