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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1508195

The Association Between Dietary Sodium Density and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis in US Adults

Provisionally accepted
Peilin An Peilin An 1,2Silin Wang Silin Wang 3*Lingyun Liu Lingyun Liu 1,2*Xuelin Li Xuelin Li 1,2*Xin Lv Xin Lv 4,5*
  • 1 Chongqing General Hospital, Chongqing, Chongqing, China
  • 2 Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
  • 3 Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Vastra Gotaland County, Sweden
  • 4 Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 5 Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is an autoimmune thyroid disease characterized by the presence of antibodies against thyroid-specific antigens. Dietary sodium intake has been implicated in the development of several autoimmune diseases, but its association with HT remains unclear.Methods: This study investigates the relationship between dietary sodium density (the ratio of sodium to energy intake) and HT using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2007 to 2012. A cross-sectional study was conducted using NHANES data, focusing on adults aged 20 years and older with available dietary and thyroid profile data. Sodium density was calculated from two 24-hour dietary recall interviews. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the associations of sodium density with HT, thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) and thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb). Restricted cubic spline (RCS) analyses were performed to explore non-linear relationships.Results: A total of 6,258 participants were included, with 576 (9.20%) diagnosed with HT. An additional unit of dietary sodium density was associated with a 24% increased risk of HT (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.01-1.50) in adjusted model. A breakpoint at 2.43 mg/kcal in dietary sodium density was identified using a piecewise regression model. Below this threshold, HT risk increased with rising sodium density, while above it, the risk plateaued. Higher sodium density was also associated with increased TPOAb positivity (OR 1.28, 95% CI 1.05-1.56), but not TgAb positivity. Conclusion: Elevated dietary sodium density is associated with an increased risk of HT and TPOAb positivity, suggesting that sodium intake may play a role in the pathogenesis of HT. 1 2 MethodsThis cross-sectional study used data from the NHANES database provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NHANES provides a comprehensive assessment of the health and nutritional status of a representative sample of the non-hospitalized US population.

    Keywords: Hashimoto's thyroiditis, dietary sodium density, Thyroid peroxidase antibody, Thyroglobulin antibody, Sodium

    Received: 09 Oct 2024; Accepted: 09 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 An, Wang, Liu, Li and Lv. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Silin Wang, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, 412 96, Vastra Gotaland County, Sweden
    Lingyun Liu, Chongqing General Hospital, Chongqing, 400081, Chongqing, China
    Xuelin Li, Chongqing General Hospital, Chongqing, 400081, Chongqing, China
    Xin Lv, Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, Jiangsu Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.