How much salt do you need? Noticing sodium in everyday food

Someone hardly uses the salt shaker and is surprised when advised to cut down on salt. But breakfast was bread and cheese, lunch a ready-made soup, and dinner pasta sauce. Much of their sodium may come from foods salted before they ever reached the table at home.

Your regular purchases are a useful place to investigate. You do not need to eliminate sodium: the body needs it. For most adults, the practical task is gradually reducing an excess that can be easy to miss.

Table salt is sodium chloride. Sodium makes up approximately 40% of its weight. So 1 g of salt corresponds to about 400 mg of sodium, and sodium in grams can be multiplied by 2.5 to find the salt equivalent.

This helps when comparing packs that use different terms. Do not directly compare 500 mg of sodium with 1 g of salt: first convert them to the same unit and check whether the figures refer to 100 g of food or a portion.

WHO recommends that adults consume less than 2 g of sodium a day, equivalent to less than 5 g of salt. This means the total in all food, not an extra teaspoon on top of already salted products. The link between excess sodium and raised blood pressure is an important reason for this recommendation. WHO on sodium reduction.

Do not apply this adult guide mechanically to children. Individual advice for kidney disease, heart disease or other conditions also needs separate discussion. Do not change your clinician’s recommendations yourself based on a general article.

Bread, cheese, processed meats, smoked fish, pickles, ready-made sauces, stock cubes and some convenience foods can provide substantial salt. A product need not taste particularly salty: how often and how much you eat matters too.

Take three regular purchases and look at their labels. If a sauce contains a lot of salt, use less or choose another. If lunch already includes salty cheese and sauce, there is no need to add salt automatically. You do not have to start keeping a complete record of every crumb.

A hypothetical product contains 1.2 g of salt per 100 g. A 50 g portion provides 0.6 g of salt; a 200 g portion of the same product provides 2.4 g. This example explains the calculation rather than describing a particular brand.

Compare products within the same category: two breads, two sauces or two tinned products. A less salty option you enjoy may be easier than banning a familiar food altogether. NHS on salt and reading labels.

Herbs, garlic, spices, lemon juice, browned onions and other familiar ingredients support flavour. For soup, start with vegetables and seasonings, then taste before adding salt. Stock cubes, soy sauce and salted seasonings also add sodium; they should not be treated as separate from salt.

Reduction can be gradual. First stop automatically putting the salt shaker beside you, then adjust the amount in a familiar dish a little. It is easier to continue when dinner remains enjoyable and the change does not feel like punishment with bland food.

Salt’s colour and origin do not cancel its sodium content. Pink crystals are no reason to use it without limits. Trace amounts of other minerals do not make salt an adequate way to supply them in your diet.

Iodised salt serves another purpose: it is one means of preventing iodine deficiency. Check the label to make sure it is actually iodised. The principle remains the same: less salt overall, not more for the sake of iodine.

These substitutes may replace some sodium chloride with potassium chloride. They are not a universal product for the whole family. Impaired potassium excretion, including in some kidney conditions, or certain medicines requires professional advice. WHO’s recommendation on these substitutes has specific limits of application. The 2025 WHO guideline.

Choose one dish you cook often and two shop purchases. Try using a little less salt in the dish, checking the packs and tasting before adding salt. Then assess whether the flavour remains pleasant and which change is easy to repeat. A few consistent everyday decisions give a clearer picture than constant anxiety beside every salt shaker.

Suppose one sauce contains 1.8 g of salt per 100 g and another 0.9 g. A 15 g serving would contain 0.27 g and approximately 0.14 g of salt respectively. These hypothetical numbers show the difference between the label figure and the amount on your plate. Compare two familiar sauces this way and try the less salty one in the same dish. The final choice still needs to suit your taste.

In the MriyaRun “Conversation with Yourself” body journal, describe an ordinary lunch: whether you were rushing, had time to notice the taste or salted the dish before trying it. Add one observation about how you felt. Calculating sodium requires product data; this note helps you notice the habit itself and the circumstances around it.