**5. Conclusions**

This study analyzed the relationship between salt intake and the risk of sarcopenia in the Japanese population. As a result, the parameters related to obesity were significantly increased and the parameters related to muscle strength were significantly decreased in the group of high-salt intake compared with the low-salt intake group. In addition, the results were more significant in the older group than the younger group. Excessive salt intake may be associated with risk of sarcopenia, although further analysis is needed.

**Author Contributions:** Y.Y. and K.K. conceived of and designed the research; Y.Y., K.K., M.M., M.Y., K.A. and T.K. performed the experiments; Y.Y., K.K., M.M. and M.Y. analyzed the data; Y.Y., K.K., T.S., R.M., M.K., K.Y., S.M. and K.T. interpreted the results of the experiments; Y.Y. and T.S. prepared the figures; Y.Y. drafted the manuscript; Y.Y., K.K., T.S., M.M., M.Y., K.A., T.K., R.M., M.K., K.Y., S.M. and K.T. edited and revised the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research KAKENHI from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan (19H03995,18K17975); Y.Y. and K.K., K.K. and M.M. were recipients of a Grant-in-Aid for Research Fellowships of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for Young Scientists (19J01099, 20J20892).

**Acknowledgments:** We wish to thank the members of S.M.'s laboratory (University of Tsukuba) for their technical assistance.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
