Sodium Intake by Age
Medical Disclaimer
These are population-level guidelines from the US National Academies, the American Heart Association and the WHO. They are not a prescription. If you have heart failure, kidney disease, liver disease, or take diuretics or lithium, your own sodium target may be set much higher or lower by your doctor, and their number overrides the chart below.
The Short Answer
- All adults, any age: aim for 1,500mg sodium/day, stay under 2,300mg
- Teens 14-18: same as adults — 1,500mg/day, limit 2,300mg
- Children 9-13: 1,200mg/day, limit 1,800mg
- Children 4-8: 1,000mg/day, limit 1,500mg
- Children 1-3: 800mg/day, limit 1,200mg
- 2,300mg ≈ 1 level teaspoon of table salt (5.8g)
Sodium requirements are not fixed for life. The amount a body needs — and the amount it can comfortably clear — changes with body size, kidney function, hormone levels and activity, and all four of those shift with age. The chart below gives the Adequate Intake (AI), which is the target a healthy person should aim for, alongside the Chronic Disease Risk Reduction intake (CDRR) — the level above which cutting back lowers blood pressure and heart risk. The figures are from the National Academies' 2019 update, which replaced the older 2004 values (including the old "Upper Limit") that many charts online still repeat. Sodium has no formal RDA; AI and CDRR are what the guidelines actually publish, and "sodium RDA" in everyday use means the AI.
Daily Sodium Chart by Age
| Age | Target (AI) | Limit (CDRR) | Salt equivalent at target | In teaspoons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-6 months | 110mg | Not set | 0.3g | Breast milk or formula only — add no salt |
| 7-12 months | 370mg | Not set | 0.9g | ~1/6 tsp, from food only |
| 1-3 years | 800mg | 1,200mg | 2.0g | ~1/3 tsp |
| 4-8 years | 1,000mg | 1,500mg | 2.5g | ~2/5 tsp |
| 9-13 years | 1,200mg | 1,800mg | 3.0g | ~1/2 tsp |
| 14-18 years | 1,500mg | 2,300mg | 3.8g | ~2/3 tsp |
| 19-50 years | 1,500mg | 2,300mg | 3.8g | ~2/3 tsp |
| 51-70 years | 1,500mg | 2,300mg | 3.8g | ~2/3 tsp |
| 71 and over | 1,500mg | 2,300mg | 3.8g | ~2/3 tsp |
Two points about reading this table. The targets are for total sodium, not just what comes out of the shaker — and in a typical Western diet roughly 70% of sodium is already in packaged food, bread and restaurant meals before anyone reaches for the salt. And the same numbers apply to men and women at every age; the guidelines are not sex-specific, though larger bodies and heavier sweaters naturally sit higher within the range. See the dedicated guides on sodium for women and sodium for men.
Sodium for Seniors: Does the Target Drop After 50?
Not any more. Until 2019 the recommended intake fell to 1,300mg at 51 and 1,200mg at 71, and many charts still show those figures. The 2019 review found no good evidence that older adults need less sodium, so the target is now 1,500mg at every adult age, with the same 2,300mg limit. Age still matters in practice, for four reasons:
- Kidney function declines. Glomerular filtration rate falls by roughly 8ml/min per decade after 40, so an older kidney clears a sodium load more slowly.
- Blood pressure becomes more salt-sensitive. The proportion of people whose blood pressure responds measurably to sodium rises sharply with age — from around 25% of young adults to more than half of those over 60. Most people over 65 have high blood pressure, and for them the AHA advises staying near 1,500mg.
- Total energy intake falls. Older adults eat less overall, so sodium per calorie matters more than the total.
- Medication interactions multiply. Diuretics, ACE inhibitors and ARBs all change how the body handles sodium and potassium.
For a full senior-specific guide, including over-80s and hyponatremia, see sodium intake for seniors.
A Worked Example: 80-Year-Old, No Kidney Disease
Target 1,500mg sodium, ceiling 2,300mg. That is about two-thirds of a teaspoon of table salt across the whole day. A single slice of commercial bread carries 150-200mg; a bowl of canned soup can carry 800mg on its own; a restaurant main course routinely exceeds 1,500mg. The practical work is therefore almost entirely in packaged and restaurant food, not in the salt cellar — which is why blanket advice to "stop adding salt" often achieves very little.
Children and Teenagers
Children's limits are lower simply because they are smaller, and the upper limits matter more than the targets. Infants under 12 months should have no salt added to food at all: their kidneys cannot concentrate urine efficiently, and the sodium in breast milk, formula and unprocessed food already meets the requirement. From age 1 the ceiling rises gradually to the adult 2,300mg at 14. Teenagers typically overshoot — the average US teenager consumes over 3,300mg a day — and the main sources are pizza, sandwiches, savory snacks and processed meat rather than home cooking.
When Age Is Not the Deciding Factor
For some people, a diagnosis outranks the age chart entirely:
| Situation | Typical target | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Hypertension at any age | 1,500mg/day | Lower than age-matched target |
| Chronic kidney disease | Often under 2,000mg/day | Set by nephrologist |
| Heart failure | 2,000-3,000mg/day | Set by cardiologist |
| Pregnancy | 1,500mg/day, same as non-pregnant adults | Unchanged — do not restrict below this |
| POTS syndrome | 3,000-10,000mg/day | Far higher, under medical supervision |
| Endurance athletes in heat | Above 2,300mg on training days | Higher, to replace sweat losses |
Working Out Your Own Number
- Start from the age row above unless a doctor has given you a different figure.
- Convert between salt and sodium with the salt to sodium calculator — sodium in mg ÷ 2.5 gives salt in mg.
- Read labels for sodium, not salt: many products list only one, and confusing them overstates or understates intake by 2.5×.
- Track for three ordinary days rather than guessing. Most people are surprised by where their sodium actually comes from.
- Increase potassium alongside any sodium reduction — the ratio between the two predicts blood pressure better than sodium alone.
The Bottom Line
Healthy adults of every age should aim for 1,500mg of sodium a day and stay under 2,300mg — the older advice to cut to 1,300mg after 50 and 1,200mg after 70 was dropped in 2019. Children need proportionally less, and infants need none added at all. But age is a starting point, not a verdict — a kidney diagnosis, a blood pressure reading, a POTS diagnosis or a hot-weather training block will each move the number further than a decade of aging does.