Final evidence report as part of preparatory work for the setting of Dietary Reference Values for sodium and chloride

As part of its mandate from the European Commission, EFSA must review existing advice from the Scientific Committee for Food (SCF) on Dietary Reference Values (DRVs) for energy, macro‐ and micronutrients and other substances with a nutritional or physiological effect, including sodium and chloride. As part of preparatory work for this task, this part of the report summaries current general scientific information for the micronutrients sodium and chloride. Data has been collated via a literature review of published, peer reviewed scientific literature from two online databases: Google Scholar and PubMed. Information contained within a total of 146 documents for sodium and 85 documents for chloride has been evaluated and included. As well as describing the methodological approach, this report covers the occurrence, geology and chemistry of sodium and chloride; approaches to and limitations of the chemical analysis of clinical samples; the biological functions of sodium and chloride and an overview of the health consequences of sodium and chloride deficiency. In addition, sodium and chloride physiology and metabolism in healthy adults, biomarkers of intake, status and function and genotypes affecting metabolism are covered.