The high sodium condiments and pre-packaged food should be the focus of dietary sodium control in the adult Shanghai population

BACKGROUND: Long-term, excessively high sodium consumption can lead to increased blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Therefore, we aimed to analyze the dietary sodium intake and food sources to understand the epidemiological characteristics associated with potentially influencing variables in adults from Shanghai. METHODS: Residents aged 15 years and above were randomly selected using multi-stage stratified random sampling in Shanghai. Over 3 days, family condiments were weighed for each 24-h day, and recall surveys were conducted for the same timeframe regarding sodium intake during the spring, summer, autumn, and winter seasons. RESULTS: The median sodium intake for residents aged 15 years and above was 4.3 g/d in Shanghai, where 55.1% was obtained from cooking salt, 13.2% from sodium condiments, and 22.2% from pre-packaged food. There were no significant differences in total sodium intake or main sources of sodium intake between different seasons. The sodium intake of rural residents > suburban residents > urban residents (P < 0.05). The logistic regression demonstrated that compared to the rural, the people living in urban and suburban consumed less sodium. Compared to the 18–44, the people aged 45–59 and ≥ 60 consumed more sodium (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Sodium intake is high in Shanghai. The absolute amount of cooking salt is low in Shanghai, and the possibility of further reduction is very little under the existing dietary habit. Limiting high sodium condiments and pre-packaged food is the new key to controlling salt intake in the future.