Dietary Sodium and Fluid Restriction for Patients with Heart Failure

The authors evaluated whether dietary sodium and/or fluid restriction are effective in reducing the risk of clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF), and what would be the best method in clinical practice or clinical trials to measure dietary sodium.

Recent evidence supports the safety of a sodium restriction less than 1500–2500 mg/day in outpatients with chronic HF; with an associated modest improvement in quality of life; however, its beneficial effect on clinical outcomes has not been proven.

Dietary methods such as food diaries may provide relevant information not only for monitoring adherence to sodium intake, but also to evaluate risk of nutritional deficiencies that may compromise nutritional status.