Sodium intake, life expectancy and deaths across 181 countries
What it found
Across 181 countries, higher average sodium intake went with longer healthy life expectancy and fewer deaths from any cause.
The authors say this observational pattern argues against sodium being a cause of shorter life.
What they found
Studies in people
Life expectancy at birth
Countries with higher average sodium intake had longer healthy life expectancy at birth. The link held after adjusting for wealth and body mass index.
Life expectancy at 60
Higher sodium intake also went with longer healthy life expectancy at age 60.
Non-communicable disease deaths
The link between sodium intake and deaths from non-communicable diseases was not statistically significant.
All-cause mortality
Higher sodium intake went with fewer deaths from any cause across the 181 countries.
High-income countries
In 46 of the highest income countries, sodium intake still went with longer healthy life expectancy at birth and fewer deaths from any cause.
What the authors conclude
“These data are observational and should not be used as a base for nutritional interventions.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say the finding that sodium intake goes with longer life expectancy and fewer deaths worldwide and in high-income countries "argues against dietary sodium intake being a culprit of curtailing life span or a risk factor for premature death".
- They state that "These data are observational and should not be used as a base for nutritional interventions."
How it was done
Sodium intake has been named as a risk factor for heart disease and early death, so the authors expected high intake to shorten life. They tested that idea against country-level data.
They compared country average sodium consumption with healthy life expectancy at birth and at age 60, deaths from non-communicable diseases, and deaths from any cause for the year 2010. They adjusted for things like gross domestic product per capita and body mass index, using World Health Organization estimates for 181 countries.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- This is an observational study of country averages, so it can show a link but not cause and effect.
- It cannot show what happens to an individual person's health when they eat more or less sodium.
- Country-level averages may hide differences between people within each country.
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 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error