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Salt on a plant based diet: what the doctors say
Salt on a plant based diet: what McDougall, Goldhamer, Barnard, Novick and other doctors say, where they agree and differ, with sources.
Updated . For education only, not medical advice.
Our view
Sodium is a nutrient nobody can live without, yet the body needs only a little, about 500 milligrams a day by the American Heart Association figure that both Alan Goldhamer and the Ornish program repeat12. Unprocessed plant foods already supply somewhere between a few hundred and roughly a thousand milligrams, so the doctors on this site locate the trouble in the salt added by factories, restaurants and the shaker rather than in sodium itself345.
Their main split is over the shaker: John McDougall has long let people sprinkle a little salt on the surface of their food, while Goldhamer, Jeff Novick and the Ornish program push for much lower totals6378. We give most weight to the ground they share, which none of them disputes: cut the salty packaged and restaurant food first, and expect the palate to adjust within weeks91011. For people with high blood pressure or kidney disease, the case for little or no added sodium comes from several of them at once121314.
Where they agree
Whole plant foods are low in sodium by nature: McDougall put his diet without added salt under 500 milligrams a day, Rogers gave about 200 to 500 for a purely plant diet, and Goldhamer roughly 500 to 1,000543. Most of the sodium in a Western diet arrives through processed and restaurant food, as Rogers and the Ornish program both point out, and Neal Barnard adds that cheese carries more sodium than potato chips4915. For packaged foods, Novick’s rule since 2007 is that milligrams of sodium per serving should not exceed calories, and Rip Esselstyn’s PLANTSTRONG site judges its own products by the same one-to-one ratio1617.
They also look at potassium next to sodium: Denis Burkitt remarked that Western people are the only mammals taking in more sodium than potassium, Barnard said the potassium in fruits and vegetables itself lowers blood pressure, and Rogers urged more potassium relative to sodium181519. The Ornish site goes further and treats the balance between the two minerals as more important than the sodium figure alone20.
Even McDougall, the most relaxed of them, grants that salt raises blood pressure somewhat, especially among people of African descent and people living with diabetes or kidney disease21. Barnard says that cutting salt and fat together lowers blood pressure, and Goldhamer ties excess salt to bone loss too2214. Several of them say the craving fades: Nathan Pritikin claimed people adapt to unsalted food in about two weeks and come to prefer it after roughly another month, and T. Colin Campbell described research in which people kept on low salt food for a few months later picked the less salty option1011.
Where they differ
The doctors part ways on how low to go, whether to add any salt at all, and how strict to be with people who are well7523.
Daily amount
The ceilings they name vary: Barnard said in 2023 that doctors often set about 2,000 milligrams a day, the PLANTSTRONG site in 2022 cited the US limit of 2,300, and in 2013 Novick defended staying under 1,500 with 2,300 as the upper bound24257. The Ornish program site asks everyone to keep to 1,500 or less, because nobody can easily tell in advance who is sensitive to salt826. Rogers, building in 2022 on the work of Walter Kempner, said blood pressure hardly changes between 10,000 and 3,000 milligrams but falls sharply as intake nears 50012. Kempner’s 1975 rice program held sodium under 100 milligrams a day at every stage27.
Salt at the table
In August 2008 McDougall cast salt as a scapegoat blamed for the harm of Western eating and worked out that half a teaspoon sprinkled on top lifts his diet to about 1,600 milligrams a day285. In 2022 his program still cooked with almost no salt and put shakers out, reasoning that the tongue picks up salt sitting on top of food, whereas salt stirred into a stew gets lost6. Goldhamer argued in 2025 that whole foods already provide enough, so adding salt makes no more sense than adding sugar or oil, and that salt leads people to eat more before they feel satisfied329.
How strict for people who are well
Doug Lisle openly disagrees with his friend Goldhamer: in 2026 he said a single grain of salt on broccoli is easy work for the kidneys and that harm depends on dose and duration, while still advising no added sodium for serious kidney disease233013. Chef AJ’s view has loosened over the years: in 2017 she grouped sugar, oil and salt as the core foods to drop, in 2018 she admitted salt was where she slipped, and in July 2026 she said she now eats the way a typical McDougall follower does, with small amounts of sugar and salt313233.
What each expert says
JMJohn McDougall
In his August 2008 newsletter McDougall argued that salt takes blame that belongs to the rest of the Western diet, and that his diet with no added salt stays under 500 milligrams a day285. He accepted a modest rise in blood pressure from salt, larger in some groups21. In 2022 he said salt and sugar on the surface of food often decide whether people enjoy eating this way at all34.
Campbell has spoken about salt mostly as a matter of taste: people raised on salty, fatty food find plain plant food bland at first35. He cited taste panel research showing that a few months of low salt eating shifts preference toward less salty food, and said his own family’s tastes changed the same way over time11.
In a 2023 session on blood pressure Barnard said doctors often cap sodium near 2,000 milligrams a day and that cutting both salt and fat lowers pressure2422. He noted that his own trial comparing a vegan with a Mediterranean diet did not restrict salt on the vegan side, granting that lowering it would likely have helped further36. He contrasts salty cheese with fruits and vegetables, low in sodium and rich in potassium15.
In 2019 Ornish told McDougall that when eating out he asks for fresh vegetables cooked without oil, butter or salt37. His program’s site recommends 1,500 milligrams a day for everyone and warns that miso, kimchi and sauerkraut are salty, suggesting a mix with low salt fermented foods838.
In a 2025 talk Goldhamer set the roughly 500 milligrams the body needs against an American average of 3,400 or more1. He links excess salt to weight gain, high blood pressure and bone loss, and sees no reason to add it to a whole plant food diet143. His example of salt driving overeating is the salted potato29.
In a 2022 lecture Rogers estimated that the average American takes in around 7,000 milligrams of sodium daily, most of it from processed food4. Following Kempner, he said the big fall in blood pressure comes only below about 500 milligrams, and he stressed potassium as well1219.
Novick’s 2007 label rule allows no more milligrams of sodium than calories per serving, and half that for people watching sodium closely16. In 2013 he defended the 1,500 milligram limit against news coverage he thought misread an Institute of Medicine report, citing an estimate of 102,000 avoidable US deaths a year from excess salt739. A 2012 article of his says sea salt and gourmet salts offer no health advantage, since their extra minerals are trivial at any safe intake40.
The PLANTSTRONG site, in a 2022 article, cites the 2,300 milligram US limit and says a salty meal can impair how blood vessels widen within half an hour25. The company holds its products to at most one milligram of sodium per calorie, and on a 2022 show Rip Esselstyn noted that its popcorn has no added oil or salt1741.
In 2017 Chef AJ said a looser program that allows some flour, sugar and salt works well for those who succeed on it, but that for people with food addiction even small amounts can get in the way42. Salt was the item in her sugar, oil, flour, alcohol and salt list that she found hardest32. By July 2026 she described her diet as including a little sugar and a little salt33.
In 1982 Pritikin told McDougall that people get used to food without salt in about two weeks and prefer it some weeks later10. In the same talk he welcomed big canning companies’ plan to stop salting canned vegetables43.
In 2020 Lisle described skilled cooking as combining sugar, fat and salt to push flavor beyond what nature offers, with cheese as a prime case4445. By 2026 he called a diet without salt harmless and sensible for serious kidney disease, but that a pinch for healthy people is a matter of dose1330.
Burkitt counted less salt among his main diet changes, saying Westerners eat roughly five times the salt of communities where blood pressure stays flat with age46. He spoke well of potatoes as a source of potassium18.
In Kempner’s 1975 rice program, sodium started under 60 milligrams a day and fluids were limited as well27. Staff checked adherence twice a week by measuring sodium or chloride in urine collected over a full day27.
We leave salty packaged and restaurant food out, the step every doctor here supports, and cook without salt, keeping any for the table946. Whether a pinch on the plate suits you, and how low to go with high blood pressure or kidney disease, is where they differ, so that is a question for your own doctor. This page is education, not medical advice.
Each small number links to its reference below: the video at the exact second, or the page where it was said.