Sodium intake, life expectancy and death rates across 181 countries
What it found
Across 181 countries, higher average sodium intake was linked to longer healthy life expectancy and lower overall death rates.
The authors found no link between sodium and deaths from long-term illnesses.
What they found
Studies in people
Life expectancy at birth
Countries where people ate more sodium had longer healthy life expectancy at birth. For each extra gram of daily sodium, life expectancy was 2.6 years longer on average.
Life expectancy at 60
Higher sodium intake also linked to longer healthy life expectancy at age 60. Each extra gram of daily sodium matched 0.3 more years of healthy life.
Deaths from illness
The authors found no clear link between sodium intake and deaths from non-communicable diseases.
Overall death rates
Countries with higher sodium intake had lower overall death rates. Each extra gram of daily sodium matched 131 fewer deaths per population unit.
Wealthier countries only
When looking only at 46 high-income countries, the same patterns held. Higher sodium still linked to longer life expectancy and lower overall death rates.
What the authors conclude
- They say their findings go against the idea that dietary sodium shortens life span or causes early death.
- They note these observations should not be used to change nutrition advice.
How it was done
High sodium intake is often considered a risk factor for heart disease and early death. The authors wanted to test whether eating more sodium actually shortens life span.
They compared average sodium consumption with health data from 181 countries for the year 2010. They looked at healthy life expectancy at birth and at age 60, as well as death rates. They adjusted for factors like national wealth and body weight.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- This work compares country averages rather than tracking individual people over time. It can show a link but cannot prove that sodium caused longer lives.
- Other differences between countries might explain the results, even after adjusting for wealth and body weight.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by NHLBI NIH HHS (from the PubMed record).
- Authors work at
- Bern University Hospital, Switzerland; Jagiellonian University, Poland; Mount Sinai Health Medical Center, USA
The paper
- Title
- Sodium intake, life expectancy, and all-cause mortality
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Messerli FH, Hofstetter L, Syrogiannouli L, et al (2021). Sodium intake, life expectancy, and all-cause mortality. European heart journal. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa947Free full textPubMed 33351135DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error