We need to control our salt intake for better health, but how do we know if we are getting it right?

We all need some salt (sodium) in our diet, as it is essential for our body processes. However, the issue for most people is that they get too much. One of the biggest issues with excess salt intake is that it increases hypertension (blood pressure), among other things. See my earlier article on recommendations about salt intake here.

I find it helpful to have a quick method for deciding if something has an acceptable level of salt, particularly when looking at packaged foods in the supermarket.

Here’s how you do it:

First of all, don’t believe any claims written on the front of the label. Only trust the information you find on the nutrition label on the back of the package.

On average, a person needs to consume the following each day:

  • 2000 Cal (8000 kJ) of Energy
  • 2000 mg of Sodium (or less)

We can see that the Cal number is the same as the Sodium number – they have a ratio 1:1.  That means that if every calorie we ate had 1mg of sodium in it, then that would be ideal.

So, the rule of thumb is this: make sure the Cal number is bigger than the Sodium mg number, and you can be sure that the sodium level is within bounds of a healthy limit.

Ratio is – 1 Cal energy to 1 mg (or less) of Sodium.

For example, if a product has 150 Cal of energy per 100g, then the sodium level per 100g needs to be 150mg or less.

Often in Aotearoa New Zealand, our labels only show kJ energy measurements. The ratio is 8000 kJ to 2000mg sodium, or 4:1. So for this calculation, you need to divide the number of kJ by four, and that number needs to be bigger than the mg of sodium.

Ratio is – 4 kJ energy to 1 mg (or less) of Sodium.

For example, if we are looking at a product with 430kJ of energy per 100g. 430 divided by 4 is about 110. So for this product to be healthy, the sodium level needs to be less than 110mg per 100g.

Here are some examples from real life labels:

These tomatoes have 22 Cal energy and less then 5 mg sodium per 100g, so they are a healthy option. Note that salt is not in the list of ingredients.
These tomatoes have 115kJ energy per 100g. Divided by 4, this is about 30 Cal. Sodium content is 170 mg per 100g. So these tomatoes are not a healthy choice. Note that the ingredients include salt.
These baked beans have 810kJ energy per serving. Divided by 4, this is about 200 Cal. The sodium content per serving is 1000 mg. This is a ratio of 1:5, in other words 5 times more salt than is healthy!! While baked beans have some redeeming features for a fast meal, I highly recommend finding a lower salt alternative. One serving of these equates to half of your daily sodium needs. And if you ate the whole can, you would be getting your whole day’s sodium in one meal!
This prepared vegetarian curry is one we eat when we want a treat “takeaways” style meal. It has 170 Cal and 470 mg of sodium per serving – a ratio of 1:3 approx. It is definitely high in sodium, so is a food to be avoided. The only saving grace is that it is probably lower in sodium than any takeaway meals we might otherwise buy, and we can have brown rice and chopped greens with it.
This one surprised me the most. Who knew than plant milk had salt in it? At 48 Cal and 50 mg sodium per 100 ml, it is at the maximum level of sodium for health. This teaches me that you can never intuitively know where the added sodium is in our food.

I hope the examples here make it easier to make good food choices for your health when you are looking at labels in the supermarket.

Please comment if you have any questions or helpful tips of your own. I’d love to hear from you

Here’s to your Abundant Health!

From Fiona 🙂

Main photo by Viki Mohamad on Unsplash