WASHINGTON — The latest sodium survey from the International Food Information Council (IFIC) found nearly half of the 1,000 respondents don’t know how much sodium they consume daily, and nearly half don’t know how much daily sodium intake is recommended.

Nearly half also said they’re concerned about their sodium intake, and more than half said they’re limiting their sodium intake or want to but haven’t done anything to accomplish it.

“Across items, people thought they were eating the recommendation,” said Milton Stokes, PhD, MPH, RD, IFIC senior director, food and nutrition. “That stood out to me. Sodium is so widely distributed in the food supply, and we tend to talk about it in terms of milligrams. Our team talked about it and wondered if people don’t know what foods sodium is in, or the amount is so small, in milligrams, that they don’t think about it.”

The average US adult consumes about 3,400 mg of sodium each day, which is about 1,000 mg higher than the recommended daily intake. More than 70% of US consumers’ sodium intake comes from packaged and prepared foods, and about 11% is added during cooking or eating, IFIC said.

Stokes, who has practiced as a dietitian, said salt/sodium is in so many food products that people get used to it, plus it’s there for a lot of reasons, such as suppressing bitter tastes and bringing out sweetness.

“It’s in everything, even milk,” he said. “It’s in a lot of packaged goods.”

Sodium also tastes good, and consumers often have a preference for salty foods, he said.

Of the survey respondents limiting their sodium intake, want to or have in the past, 65% said their main reason was to improve their overall health.

Stokes said these are people who understand that they should cut back on sodium and are hearing, reading or getting a message from a health care provider or another source that there’s a connection between sodium and health.

“Do I think health care providers could do more if they weren’t so pressured to take care of everything else in a crunched timeframe? Yes,” he said. “I’d love to see them refer people to a registered dietitian.”

He added that most insurance programs cover at least one visit to a registered dietitian.

More than half of the survey respondents said they view more positively foods and beverages advertised as being lower in sodium. They were asked if they look at the Nutrition Facts Panel, Stokes said, and whether they already tended to check for sodium.

“We asked them to pretend we’re giving you two similar products, and how will you decide what to buy?” he said. “About a third said they would buy the product lower in sodium. I was glad to see it, but in being sensitive to the nature of the survey, we probably primed people to think about sodium because of the previous questions, so that should be considered in this.”

In previous IFIC consumer surveys on food and health over the past 19 years, respondents prioritized product taste and put price in second place, Stokes said.

“At the end of the day, I think people are going to buy what they think is going to taste good and that they can afford,” he said.

Once the US Food and Drug Administration adopts rules for front-of-pack nutritional labeling for sodium, Stokes said it’s likely IFIC will revisit the issue.

“I think it’s fair to say that sodium is going to be top of mind for IFIC for the near future, and definitely considering what FDA is doing around sodium reduction and just because our surveys show us year after year that sodium is a priority,” he said.

The best approach to limit sodium may be a slow and steady one, Stokes added, because most brands and restaurants don’t want to be out ahead of the crowd when it comes to reducing sodium.

“What if you have a favorite soup and it’s low-sodium and (the change is) too abrupt?” he said. “You’re going to switch to another brand that has the amount you’re used to.”

The FDA’s approach in 2021, when the agency set a voluntary sodium reduction target of around 12%, feels much more palatable, Stokes said.

“You approach it across the board and just cut back a few hundred milligrams,” he said. “Will (consumers) even notice? Probably not.”

Stokes said he is feeling optimistic that now is a great time to reexamine sodium specifically and diet quality overall.

“Making small changes, whether it’s at the consumer level or the food industry level, those will add up, especially if we can focus on increasing fruit and vegetable intake,” he said.