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To assess the relationship between sodium intake and hypertension risk in cohort studies, based on a systematic review up to January 21, 2022, that also employed a dose-response meta-analysis.Dose-response analysis of available cohort studies (n = 11), using a dietary intake or urinary sodium excretion of 2 g/day as the reference category, showed an excess risk starting at 3 g/day. However, we found a linear relationship across the entire range of sodium exposure in an analysis restricted to studies that used 24 h urinary sodium excretion information and had a low risk of bias. This review confirms prior findings based on experimental studies and identified an almost linear relationship between sodium intake/excretion and hypertension risk in cohort studies, reinforcing the validity of recommendations to prevent cardiovascular disease through the reduction of sodium intake in both normotensive and hypertensive adults.

Dietary intake to trace elements may represent the most relevant source of exposure for the general, non-occupationally population, but some of them have been rarely evaluated. We measured content of fifteen trace elements (antimony, barium, beryllium, boron, cobalt, lithium, molybdenum, nickel, silver, strontium, tellurium, thallium, titanium, uranium, and vanadium) in 908 food and beverage samples through inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. We estimated their dietary intake using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire collected from a population of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Northern Italy. We compared our estimates with tolerable upper intake levels reported by international agencies and we assessed the non-carcinogenic risk through calculation of total hazard quotient for each trace element according to the US-EPA approach. Overall, estimates of their dietary intake were substantially similar to those reported from other countries, and they fell below the tolerable upper intake levels provided by international agencies. The total hazard quotient for each trace element was below 1. Our findings provide updated estimates of food levels and dietary intake of trace elements far frequently evaluated in a sample of Italian adult consumers. They also suggest that any non-carcinogenic risk associated with intake of investigated trace elements may be ruled out in our population.