Measuring and Monitoring
SALT
The gold standard method of measuring population salt intake is to measure all salt passed in urine over a 24 hour period (24 hour urinary sodium measurements). In countries with less resource to conduct such measurements in a representative sample of the population, spot urine measurements can be used instead.
24 hour dietary recalls have been used in many studies and national studies, but this is not considered accurate due to recall bias. Dietary recall does not capture sodium intake from salt added at the table by the individual and usually several recalls must be carried out to estimate long-term intake.
Available data on population salt intake
A paper published in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension by Thout et al., 2019 reviewed all studies on salt intake published between 2011 and 2018. The table below summarises their findings:
|
Country |
Year Measured |
Salt Intake per day |
|
Australia |
2011 |
9.04g |
|
Barbados |
2012-2013 |
6.75g |
|
Benin |
2012-2013 |
10.2g |
|
Canada |
2012-2013 |
8.22g |
|
Fiji |
2012-2013 |
10.29g |
|
India |
2014 |
9.08g |
|
Italy |
2008-2012 |
9.82g |
|
New Zealand |
2012 |
8.58g |
|
Portugal |
2011-2012 |
10.66 |
|
Samoa |
2013 |
7.65g |
|
Switzerland |
2010-2012 |
9.14g |
|
United States |
2014 |
9.16g |
Data source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jch.13546
UK
NOTE: UK and England data were corrected in 2014, after it was found that the measurement instruments used in previous years had introduced bias. We have quoted the corrected data below, however the full reasoning and correction methodology have not yet been published by Public Health England.
|
Country |
Year Measured |
Salt Intake per day |
Reference |
|
England |
2006 |
Overall - 9.0g
Men - 10.2g Women - 7.7 g |
|
|
UK |
2008 |
Overall – 8.6g
Men – 9.7g Women – 7.7g |
|
|
England |
2011 |
Overall - 8.1g
Men – 9.3g Women – 6.8g |
|
|
England |
2014 |
Overall – 8.0g
Men – 9.1g Women – 6.8g |
|
|
England |
2018-2019 |
Overall – 8.4g
Men – 9.2g Women – 7.6g |
USA
Salt intake is measured via the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) via 24 hour dietary recall
|
Year |
Salt intake per day |
|
2009-2010 |
8.66g |
|
2011-2012 |
8.70g |
|
2013-2014 |
8.52g |
|
2015-2016 |
8.53g |
|
2017-2018 |
8.47g |
South Africa
A 2016 study found average intakes of 7.09g per day
A 2005 study involving 325 participants found intakes of 7.8g, 8.5g, and 9.5 g per day in black, mixed ancestry, and white participants respectively
