Dietary sodium intake of adult residents in 15 provinces of China in 2015

Objective To analyze the status of dietary sodium intake of Chinese adult residents in fifteen provinces in 2015. Methods Data were collected from 2015 China Nutrition Transition Cohort Study. This cohort study used a three consecutive 24-h retrospective method to record food intake and weighing method to record household condiment consumption. In this study, 14 847 residents aged 18 years and over with complete data from 15 provinces in 2015 were selected for the comparison of dietary sodium intake (median) with different characteristics. Results Among the 14 847 residents, 47.1% were males, and the rural and northern residents accounted for 60.1% and 37.7%, respectively. Median sodium intake was 3 960.0 mg/d among residents in 2015. The sodium intake of males (4 272.1 mg/d) was higher than that of females (3 716.6 mg/d). Across age subgroups, sodium intake was highest among residents aged 45-59 years (4 257.0 mg/d; 18-44 years old, 3 867.1 mg/d; ≥60 years old, 3 799.0 mg/d). Sodium intake was higher in rural area (4 042.9 mg/d) than in urban area (3 866.8 mg/d), higher in north (4 229.2 mg/d) than in south (3 806.8 mg/d) (all P values <0.05). 11.8% of residents with dietary sodium intake were below 2 000 mg/d. The main sources of dietary sodium were condiments (79.4%), regular cooking foods (11.9%) and processed foods (8.7%). Among the condiments, the salt and soy sauce accounted for 63.6% and 10.4%, respectively. Conclusion In 2015, Chinese adult residents had higher dietary sodium intake with gender and regional differences. Condiments were the main source of dietary sodium. Key words: Sodium, dietary; Adult; Cross-sectional studies; Intake