Dietary sodium: where science and policy conflict: impact of the 2013 IOM Report on Sodium Intake in Populations

The 2013 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report "Sodium Intake in Populations: Assessment of Evidence" did not support the current recommendations of the IOM and the American Heart Association (AHA) to reduce daily dietary sodium intake to below 2,300 mg. The report concluded that the population-based health outcome evidence was not sufficient to define a safe upper intake level for sodium. Recent studies have extended this conclusion to show that a sodium intake below 2,300 mg/day is associated with increased mortality. In spite of this increasing body of evidence, the AHA, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), other public health advisory bodies, and major medical journals have continued to support the current policy of reducing dietary sodium.