Articles · Nutrients
Salt: the five-gram question
Why most of the salt we eat is already in the food when we buy it, what cutting down does for blood pressure, and how taste buds adjust in a few weeks.
· 3 min read
Do you add salt at the table? Many people who want to cut down start there. But here's the twist: for most of us, the salt shaker is a small part of the story. Where does the rest come from, and why does it matter?
How much is too much?
Salt is sodium chloride, and it's the sodium that matters for health. The body needs a little, but most of us eat far more than that.
- The World Health Organization advises adults to eat less than 5 g of salt a day, about a level teaspoon. That's 2 g of sodium.
- The world average is about 11 g a day, more than twice that.
If a label lists sodium, multiply it by 2.5 to get salt.
Think about it: Without counting the salt shaker, where do you think most of your salt comes from?
Where does it come from?
About three-quarters of the salt we eat is already in food when we buy it. The biggest sources are everyday foods eaten often:
- Bread: not salty-tasting, but a slice can hold about 0.4 g, and the slices add up.
- Cheese, ham, bacon and other cured meats.
- Ready meals, pizzas, soups and sauces, including stock cubes and soy sauce (about 2 g of salt in a tablespoon).
- Crisps, salted nuts and other snacks.
- Breakfast cereals, some of them.
What does cutting down do?
Too much salt raises blood pressure, and high blood pressure is a leading cause of strokes and heart attacks. A review of 34 trials found that eating about 4 g less salt a day lowered blood pressure by about 4/2 mmHg on average, and by more (about 5/3 mmHg) in people with high blood pressure. Across a whole population, that's a meaningful number of strokes and heart attacks avoided.
Eating more potassium, from fruit, vegetables, beans and nuts, also helps keep blood pressure down.
The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1831. A woodblock print rather than a painting, and perhaps the most famous wave in art, with Mount Fuji small in the distance. A litre of seawater holds about 35 g of dissolved salts, mostly ordinary salt: around six days' worth at the WHO limit. Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsCutting down without missing it
- Taste before you salt. Many dishes don't need it.
- Cook with flavour instead: garlic, onion, herbs, spices, black pepper, lemon or lime juice, vinegar.
- Check labels. In the UK, more than 1.5 g of salt per 100 g is high, and 0.3 g or less is low. Compare brands: the salt in the same kind of bread, cereal or sauce can vary a lot.
- Go easy on stock cubes and sauces, or choose reduced-salt ones.
- Rinse canned beans and vegetables packed in salted water.
Try this: Your taste buds adjust. Cut down gradually, and within a few weeks food with less salt tastes normal, and your old favourites start tasting too salty.
Think about it: Which salty food do you eat most often? Could you find a lower-salt version of it this week?
Quick quiz
How much salt a day does the WHO advise adults to stay under?
Five grams, about a level teaspoon.
Where does most of the salt we eat come from?
From food when we buy it, such as bread, cheese, cured meats, ready meals and sauces, rather than from the salt shaker.
A label says 0.6 g of sodium per serving. How much salt is that?
About 1.5 g. Multiply sodium by 2.5 to get salt.
Sources
General information, not medical advice. If you have a health condition, are pregnant or take medication, ask a doctor or dietitian what is right for you.