For how we live.
A final rule amends 80 FDA standards of identity so makers can replace some or all added salt with substitutes, part of a push to cut sodium tied to high blood pressure. It takes effect 14 December 2026.
For most people eating normally, added electrolytes do little, and plain water rehydrates fine for ordinary exercise. The clearest endurance danger is drinking too much — and the proven use is illness, not the gym.
Eating more potassium lowers blood pressure in people who already have hypertension, and a large trial of potassium-enriched salt cut strokes and deaths — but the benefit is not for everyone.
In people who already have kidney disease, cutting salt reduced albuminuria by about 36% and lowered blood pressure. High salt also blunts standard kidney-protecting drugs — though long-term outcome trials are missing.
Global mean intake was 4,278 mg a day in 2021 against a recommended limit under 2,000. A week of low-sodium eating moved blood pressure in most people; a five-year trial of salt substitute cut strokes.